For a change of pace we invited positive 'deviant' Mel Neil to dinner and dialogue with Women Who Care. In fact, she is a positive psychology practitioner whose desire is to empower the success of individuals and communities. Her title and bio don't mention she's also a compelling and entertaining speaker.
Mel spoke about strengths based performance management and the myth of hard work - if we work hard enough we won't have any weaknesses!
Mel shared a bucket load of evidence and insight on managing ourselves and our teams, and overcoming our natural negative bias as humans.
3 Care Points
It was hard to pick only 3, but here they are:
- The only time we improve is when we leverage from what is strong, so focusing and offering opportunities around a person's strengths allows them to play into the best version of themselves.
- Take one step towards 'accurate' when you're having that performance management conversation. If the person performs brilliantly for 98% of the time, then only allow 2% of the conversation to be about the other 2% 'not-so-brilliant' performance.
- Start working on your positive bias with a gratefulness practice. Once a day ask yourself... 'What am I grateful for today?' Keep a consistent practice happening (start with 21 days) and you'll start to notice more and more things to be grateful for. (Love this one, I started this practice several years ago and I have over 6,000 reasons to be grateful journalled.)