Hello, my Humanness Heroes, and welcome back to our ongoing series on the transformative power of humanness in project delivery. In our last post, “Bekah’s Story,” we delved into the personal and professional fallout when workplaces neglect the human aspects of their teams. Through Bekah’s experience, we saw how overlooking individual contributions and personal well-being can lead to a loss of talent and a broader organizational failure to nurture potential.
Today, we shift our focus from the consequences of neglect to the positive capabilities of humanness in fostering creativity and innovation in project teams. However, before we dive in, let’s remember the core mission of this blog: to promote humanness. It is about encouraging each of us to bring our best and most authentic selves into our teams, especially within the context of project delivery.
As I introduce Martin Seligman’s PERMA model, I want you to feel empowered. This is not just another ‘tool’ to fix complex human challenges. It’s a guide that encourages self-reflection and personal growth. The PERMA model caught my attention because it provides a structured way for us to evaluate our personal contributions to our teams and projects. It empowers us to look inward and assess how well we embody the qualities that lead to a fulfilling professional life and, by extension, enhance our collective work environment.
So why this model? While previous posts have focused on the role of leadership in nurturing humanness within project teams, it is equally important to highlight your individual role. As a team member, you have the power to foster an environment where creativity and authenticity flourish. The PERMA model offers a framework to explore this, helping you assess and develop your capacity to contribute positively to our teams. Let’s delve into each element of PERMA and discover how it can guide you to bring your whole self to our work and inspire those around us.
What is the PERMA model?
The PERMA model, developed by psychologist Martin Seligman, is a cornerstone in the field of positive psychology. It outlines the essential elements that contribute to an individual’s well-being. The acronym PERMA represents five foundational elements: Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Achievement. Each component plays a crucial role in enhancing personal and collective happiness and effectiveness. Positive Emotion is about experiencing joy and optimism; Engagement refers to involvement in activities that draw and hold one’s attention; Relationships pertain to having supportive and fulfilling connections; Meaning involves a sense of purpose and alignment with one’s beliefs; and Achievement covers the pursuit and attainment of goals.
While each element is vital in its own right, all don’t need to be maximized simultaneously to foster an environment ripe for creativity and innovation. Instead, a synergistic combination of several elements can often yield the best outcomes. For instance, a team might experience high levels of engagement and relationships, which can compensate for lower levels of positive emotion while still leading to highly creative and successful endeavours. Understanding and leveraging this interplay can allow individuals and teams to create a more dynamic, supportive, and innovative work environment where each member feels valued and vibrant, capable of contributing their best.
How can the PERMA Model Impact the Project Team Member?
Now remember the focus is on the team member, YOU!
Understanding the PERMA model’s application can significantly enhance how you, the team member, experience and contribute to creative and innovative processes.
Positive Emotions:
In exploring the PERMA model, it is essential to understand the profound impact of the first element, Positive Emotions, on your well-being and creative capabilities. Positive emotions encompass a broad range, including joy, love, amusement, gratitude, and hope. These aren’t just fleeting moments of happiness (Madeson 1); they are crucial drivers that enhance your ability to think creatively and respond flexibly in various situations. By fostering positive emotions, you can break away from conventional thought patterns and explore innovative solutions with a renewed perspective.
To actively cultivate these positive emotions in your daily work life, consider integrating simple, effective ‘actuators’ or activities. Here is a sample list of actions you might take to boost your positive emotional experiences:
- Gratitude Reflection: Start or end your day by jotting down three things you are grateful for, focusing on different aspects of your work or interactions that brought you joy or satisfaction.
- Mindful Breaks: Incorporate short, mindful pauses into your day to savour moments of beauty or accomplishment, whether appreciating a well-crafted email or enjoying the calm during a tea break.
- Positive Feedback: Make a habit of giving and seeking constructive and positive feedback, fostering an environment of appreciation and mutual respect.
- Engage in Creative Activities: Dedicate time to hobbies or tasks you love unrelated to work, which can rejuvenate your mind and spill over into your job with increased creativity and energy.
- Social Connections: Spend quality time with colleagues or peers who uplift you, sharing stories or collaborating on projects that bring collective joy.
By consciously engaging in activities like the ones listed above, you are not just enhancing your individual well-being. You are also contributing to a more vibrant, emotionally positive atmosphere within your team. This, in turn, sets the stage for enhanced creativity and innovation. It’s a journey to a fulfilling professional life that is as much about nurturing the right emotions as it is about achieving tangible outcomes. And this journey, my friend, is full of hope and inspiration.
Short Story: The Spark of Positivity at CreativeSolutions Inc.
At CreativeSolutions Inc., Emily, a graphic designer, had been feeling the usual mid-project fatigue. The team was working on a high-stakes marketing campaign, and creativity seemed to be at a low ebb. Recognizing the need to reboot her own creative energies, Emily decided to actively cultivate positive emotions in her daily routine.
Every morning, Emily began her day by listing three aspects of her current project for which she felt grateful. This could be anything from the collaborative spirit of her team to the innovative challenge the project presented. This simple act of gratitude helped shift her focus from the stress of deadlines to the positive aspects of her work, injecting a sense of joy and purpose into her daily tasks.
To further enhance her positive emotions, Emily introduced ‘Mindful Mondays’ to her team, where they would start the week with a 10-minute mindfulness exercise focused on positive visualization. She shared how this practice was helping her maintain a calm and creative mindset, and soon, her enthusiasm became contagious. The team members began to engage more openly and supportively with each other, sharing creative ideas without the usual reservations.
Midway through the project, Emily’s newfound positivity had visibly impacted her work. Her designs were fresher and more innovative, inspiring her team members to push their own creative boundaries. The atmosphere in the team meetings transformed from tense to energized, as team members felt more appreciated and engaged.
The campaign turned out to be one of the most successful ones that CreativeSolutions Inc. had launched in recent years. Not only did it win several industry awards, but the team itself had grown closer and more collaborative. Emily’s initiative to foster positive emotions sparked a wave of creativity and innovation, demonstrating how individual efforts to boost positivity can resonate across an entire team, enhancing personal and collective achievements.
Engagement:
Engagement, as described in the PERMA model, is about being fully present or engrossed in activities that capture your full attention and bring you into what is often called the ‘flow’ state (Madeson 1). This state, closely aligned with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of flow (Oppland 2), occurs when you are so deeply absorbed in a task that you lose all sense of time and self, significantly boosting your productivity and creativity.
When you are engaged, you are not just passing time but actively investing in and stretching your skills. This doesn’t happen in easy tasks; it happens when there is a perfect balance between the challenge of the activity and your skill level. If you are too good at something, it becomes boring. If it’s too hard, it becomes frustrating. But in that sweet spot, you achieve flow.
Here are some practical ways you can encourage this deep engagement in your daily activities, especially at work:
- Identify Your Strengths: Daily reflections, reviewing past success or seeking informal feedback from your peers can help you understand where your strengths lie. Engaging more frequently in tasks that utilize these strengths can lead to more frequent flow states.
- Set Clear Goals: Establish clear, achievable goals for your tasks. Knowing exactly what you need to accomplish and that you have the skills to do it can help you engage more deeply.
- Minimize Interruptions: Try to control your environment to reduce interruptions. This might mean setting specific hours where you focus solely on one task, or it could involve organizing your workspace to minimize distractions. If your office space has breakout rooms, you could utilize one.
- Seek Feedback: Regular feedback on your progress can help you adjust your tasks to suit your skill level better, keeping you in the flow state.
- Challenge Yourself: Regularly step slightly out of your comfort zone to take on challenges that stretch your capabilities without overwhelming you. This helps maintain a high level of engagement.
Integrating actuators like these into your routine can enhance your ability to enter the flow state, making your work more productive and enjoyable. This benefits you personally by increasing your satisfaction and achievement and enhances your team’s collective creativity and efficiency.
Story: The Flow Catalyst at Apex Innovations
Jordan, a software developer at Apex Innovations, was known for his meticulous approach to coding but often found himself disengaged, watching the clock rather than immersing himself in his work. Aware that he needed a change to spark his creativity and increase his productivity, Jordan decided to apply the principles of engagement from the PERMA model to his daily tasks.
Jordan started by identifying the aspects of his job where he felt most competent and challenged, such as complex problem-solving that required creative algorithms. He then spoke with his manager about aligning his tasks more closely with these interests. Together, they agreed that Jordan would take the lead in developing a new feature for Apex’s flagship product. This assignment perfectly matched his skills and presented a level of difficulty that was neither overwhelming nor mundane.
To minimize interruptions and maximize flow, Jordan restructured his workday to include long blocks of time dedicated solely to this project, during which he turned off his email notifications and phone. He also established a feedback loop with his team, setting up short daily check-ins to discuss progress and hurdles and brainstorm solutions. This not only kept him motivated but also helped him adjust his pace and approach as needed, maintaining his engagement.
As Jordan became more engaged, his enthusiasm and focus were palpable. His team members noticed the shift in his energy and were inspired by his dedication and the quality of his output. His deep engagement had a ripple effect; his teammates started to adopt similar strategies, seeking tasks that aligned better with their strengths and organizing their schedules to allow for periods of uninterrupted work.
The culmination of Jordan’s efforts was a highly innovative feature that significantly enhanced the product’s functionality. His success demonstrated to the entire team how aligning one’s work with one’s skills, seeking feedback, and minimizing disruptions could lead to personal satisfaction and success and substantial contributions to the team’s objectives. Jordan’s journey from clock-watching to a state of flow reinvigorated his team’s dynamics and set a new standard for productivity and creativity at Apex Innovations.
Please note that the above short stories are fictional.
To Be Continued…
As we have delved into the ‘P’ and ‘E’ of the PERMA model, Positive Emotions and Engagement, I hope you have seen how these elements can significantly enhance your creative and innovative capacities within a team. Cultivating an environment where positive emotions prevail opens you up to new avenues for creative thinking while fostering deep engagement in your work leads to higher quality and more innovative outcomes. These aspects of the PERMA model are foundational in creating a workspace where you feel inspired and encouraged to push beyond the norm.
In our next blog post, we will explore the remaining elements of the PERMA model: Relationships, Meaning, and Achievement. These components are equally vital in building a thriving team environment where creativity and innovation can flourish. We will discuss how fostering strong relationships can enhance cooperation and trust among team members, how finding a sense of meaning in your work can drive you to pursue significant and impactful projects, and how focusing on achievements can motivate you for continuous improvement and lead to groundbreaking innovations.
By integrating these elements, we continue to champion the essence of humanness, encouraging you to bring your whole, authentic self to your team. This enriches your well-being and amplifies your contributions to collective goals, embodying the true spirit of collaboration and innovation. Join me as we further explore how each component of the PERMA model enhances this human-centric approach to professional excellence.
References:
- Melissa Madeson, Ph.D. February 24, 2017. Seligman’s PERMA+ Model Explained: A Theory of Wellbeing. Positive Psychology. https://positivepsychology.com/perma-model/
- Mike Oppland, BA, MBA. December 16, 2016. 8 Traits of Flow According to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Positive Psychology. https://positivepsychology.com/mihaly-csikszentmihalyi-father-of-flow/