Cultivate Positive Identities In Your Employees.
When do you do your best work? For most people, the answer would be: “When I feel good about myself.” This is known as positive identity, and it helps people feel happier and more focused, which translates into better work.
So what makes people feel good about themselves? One framework that explains positive identity is the GIVE model, which has four elements.
Growth: people tend to feel better about themselves when they sense they’re growing – for example, by learning new skills. They feel like they are becoming the person they’d ideally want to be.
Integration: people who can make the different parts of their lives – like their work life, family and hobbies – fit together have a positive identity.
Virtuousness: a natural complement to a positive identity. To consider themselves virtuous, people must feel that they have qualities like integrity and humility, and their actions facilitate this. For example, research indicates that when employees donate to their company’s employee support program, they tend to see themselves as more helpful, caring and benevolent.
Esteem: people want to feel that their personality is appreciated by those around them.
Leaders can also help employees enhance their positive identities by encouraging them to leverage their strengths and virtues at work.
The reflected best-self exercise is a great tool to enable individuals to discover their character strengths and talents.
The exercise starts with an employee gathering stories from, for example, friends and family about situations where they felt the employee was at her best.
The employee then analyzes these stories to find common positive themes, thereby developing a portrait of their strengths, which can then be leveraged at work.
If an employee finds one of his strengths is empathy, the company leader should try to create situations where this can be put to use – maybe something like asking him to mediate between other quarreling employees. Being able to constantly use good qualities like this helps people develop a positive identity.
