Positivity Leads to Productivity

Though Agile Coaching has been one of my responsibilities as a development manager in the corporate world, I've very recently transitioned to independent consultant and full-time Agile Coach!

Those of you who aren't in the world of software development probably have no idea what an "Agile Coach" is, but basically, it's a coach who helps teams adopt "Agile practices."  And what are "Agile Practices" you ask?  Well, that's a pretty long topic, but one thing that Agile coaches care about is.... you guessed it...  Workplace Happiness!

In fact, in a LinkedIn Agile Coaching Group Discussion today, Michael Tarnowski posted a link to this article: Positive Teams are More Productive.

The article, written by Emma Seppälä, (that's a pretty cool name, isn't it?), published in the Harvard Business Review confirms that a workplace that promotes positive and virtuous practices is the surest way to improve productivity.

From the article,

Positive and virtuous practices include:

• Caring for, being interested in, and maintaining responsibility for colleagues as friends.

• Providing support for one another, including offering kindness and compassion when others are struggling.

• Avoiding blame and forgive mistakes.

• Inspiring one another at work.

• Emphasizing the meaningfulness of the work.

• Treating one another with respect, gratitude, trust & integrity.

There are four recommendations for organizations to add positive practices to their company:

1. Leadership - Support from the top
2. Culture - Implement changes designed to be positive and virtuous
3. Small Steps - Spend time each day doing things like gratitude journals or other positive habits
4. Retreats and Workshops - Strategic focus on positive practices and leadership

I love that last one because creating Agile Retreats is one of my future goals! I even bought the AgileRetreats.com domain the other day!

What small steps can you take to create a positive atmosphere at your workplace?