Is happiness the key to boosting employee performance?

The simple act of having a positive mindset goes a long way in terms of improving business and educational outcomes, according to Shawn Achor, author of Big Potential and The Happiness Advantage.

Indeed, a study by Stanford researchers in 2018 concluded that positivity for a subject increases the activity of the hippocampus - the area of the brain that’s intimately linked with memory and learning.

Moreover, positive emotion triggers the release of serotonin and dopamine, which significantly improve motivation, motor control, memory, problem-solving, mental focus and the ability to process multiple concepts concurrently.

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Achor’s own research found that the brain at positive is 31% more productive than our brain at negative, neutral or stressed. And doctors, for example, are 19% faster and more accurate at coming up with the correct diagnosis when positive instead of negative, neutral or stressed.

Consequently, Achor told participants of Skillsoft’s Perspectives 2020 event that often success alone will not result in prolonged levels of happiness.

“If success correlated with extraordinarily higher levels of happiness then the happiest people in society would be the rich, celebrities, athletes and professional musicians - we know that’s not the case,” said Achor.  

“If you have ever travelled to an impoverished country you would find people that seem to have very little, yet still have high levels of gratitude, optimism and social connection.”

Achor added that if you can raise your levels of optimism then the likelihood of every single positive business outcome rises dramatically.

“The rationally optimistic approach to the pandemic is the most adaptive one because when the brain is positive it is best primed to deal with the crisis in front of us.”

Achor argues that in order to get through challenging times, such as the coronavirus, it requires a combination of optimism, social connections, gratitude, seeing the meaning in our work and hope – “truly believing that our behaviour actually matters”.

So how can we obtain a more positive mindset and enjoy the flow-on benefits of better motivation and productivity? 

READ MORE: How innovative work options offer 'breathing room' amid crisis

“I have been doing ‘gratitudes’ for years – scanning for three new things I am grateful for – which can be a real challenge because you have to think of things you haven’t said the day before. But it makes you look for opportunities,” said Achor.

For Achor, this daily routine has shifted his thought process from a “deficit mindset” (what are the things not going right today?) to a “mindset that’s constantly looking for growth”.

“My two-year-old daughter saw a video on Spiderman recently and she really liked him so I decided to put on a Spiderman costume and walk past the kitchen - it made her day,” he added.

“Not only do the gratitudes make me look for things like that, they also give me energy. That time with my daughter made me finish my emails faster and reach out to friend that I hadn’t spoken to in a while.

“So I think energy comes from meaning. We know that our brain gets tired of doing the same activity over and over again. But when you are looking for creativity and feeling like there is meaning your brain releases 20-30% more energy than you already have.”