Tweet

How Positive Emotions Ignite Innovation

Guest post by: Dr. Maynard Brusman

Article Overview: Positive emotions (enjoyment, happiness, joy, interest and anticipation) broaden our awareness and encourage novel, varied, and exploratory thoughts and actions. Over time, this expanded behavioral repertoire helps us build skills and resources.

How Positive Emotions Ignite Innovation

Positive Emotions Ignite Innovation

I was recently working with one of my San Francisco Bay Area executive coaching clients – the president of a mid-sized company. We discussed how to ignite innovation by inspiring people to think and act positively.

My executive coaching client and I further discussed how to create a culture of positive well-being where people live and breathe innovation. I am coaching my client on how company leaders can change the way people think and act to create a more positive culture and achieve extraordinary results.

The Broaden-and-Build Model of Positive Emotions

Unlike negative emotions, which narrow our focus with respect to possible actions, positive emotions achieve the opposite: They open us. Positivity expands our social, physical and cognitive resources.

Psychologist Barbara Fredrickson, PhD, has conducted extensive research in this area. She outlines her “broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions” in Positivity: Groundbreaking Research Reveals How to Embrace the Hidden Strength of Positive Emotions, Overcome Negativity and Thrive (Crown Archetype, 2009).

Dr. Fredrickson suggests that positive emotions (enjoyment, happiness, joy, interest and anticipation) broaden our awareness and encourage novel, varied, and exploratory thoughts and actions. Over time, this expanded behavioral repertoire helps us build skills and resources.

In contrast, negative emotions prompt narrow, immediate, survival-oriented behaviors. For example, anxiety sparks a primal fight-or-flight response, which we needed to survive during our caveman days. When anxious, we narrow our focus to shut out distractions—important for cavemen, but often counterproductive in business.

On the other hand, positive emotions take your mind off stressors. Over time, the skills and resources you have built through broadened awareness serve to enhance your professional survival. (They are essential for innovation, customer service and employee engagement.)

Dr. Fredrickson conducted studies in which participants watched films that induced either positive (amusement, contentment), negative (fear, sadness) or no emotions. Viewers who experienced positive emotions showed heightened levels of creativity, inventiveness and “big picture” perceptual focus.

Dr. Fredrickson emphasizes two core truths about positive emotions:

1. They open our hearts and minds, making us more receptive and creative.

2. Consequently, we can discover and build new skills, ties, knowledge and ways of being.

Are you working in a professional services firm or other organization where executive coaches provide leadership development to grow emotionally intelligent leaders? Does your organization provide executive coaching for leaders who inspire positive emotions in their people? Enlightened leaders tap into their emotional intelligence and social intelligence skills to create a more positive culture.

One of the most powerful questions you can ask yourself is “Am I a leader who cultivates positive emotions including enjoyment and happiness in employees?” Emotionally intelligent and socially intelligent organizations provide executive coaching as part of their high performance leadership development program.

Working with a seasoned executive coach and leadership consultant trained in emotional intelligence and incorporating assessments such as the Bar-On EQ-I, CPI 260 and Denison Culture Survey can help you create a culture where all employees are more positive and fully engaged. You can become a leader who models emotional intelligence and social intelligence, and who inspires people to become fully engaged with the vision, mission and strategy of your company or law firm.

Related Articles
  Can Emotional Intelligence Be Successfully Incorporated In Daily Life?
  Insightpreneurs and Differencemakers - leaders of our new world
  When to Develop Custom Software or Websites: Hire's Innovation test
  7 Things I’ve Learned About Fear
  TIDE Innovation Series-Self Innovation
  100 Ways to Succeed #93
  How to Add Innovation to Your Business
  It's Not the Size that Counts
  Make the Most of 2009
  Emotions’ Role in Business - The Business Case for Positivity
  The Tale of the Toothache
  Gratitude
  Positivity at Work
  Innovation and Entrepreneurship
  20 Tips To Initiate & Inspire Innovation From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
  But We CAN'T
  LEADERSHIP IS NOT MARKETING FEELINGS BUT DEMONSTRATING ATTITUDE
  Innovation is simple!
  Get Out Of A Sales Rut With This Single Move
  The Dos and Don’ts of Innovation

Article Tags: anticipation, behavioral repertoire, emotions, happiness, innovation



Related Forum Posts
Re: What can You Learn from a Jobless and Homeless Woman? - Positive thinking and a desire for success are fundamental qualities of an entrepreneur in my opinion.
Re: What inspires you? - Put a Visual Board of your dream and look at it for 10 days. And see the fun. Another inspiration thing is to have "Constant Positive Affirmations". This really shifts energy towards your goal. Say it in the morning and before bed. Robert
Re: LEADERS - Nice post, i like the Doers and the listeners comments from my handbook 8.5 HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT LEADERSHIP? Planning Problem Solving Vision Innovation Leadership Emotional Intelligence Delegation Communication Self-Development Relationship Building Commercial Financial skills Personal Energy Ethics Transparency Even there I see that we are missing "PASSION"
Re: Stay positive! - Great theme My favorite book the ageless "Power of Positive Thinking" and I do not read many of these Motivational Books, Attitude is everything - a positive one is ore likely to bring positive results According to my Pisces horoscope - I am told that by my birth I am to be moody. We all have those bad days, but even though moody by nature, I tried to keep those days down to 4 or 5 a year - not bad for a Pisces Hang with the positives, lose the negatives
Re: Who hates cold calling? - About 15 years ago I worked for this sales company that used to sell anything from Kitchen Knives to Dry Cell Torches. The owner was a very motivating guy and he would ask us to get to the office by 7.00AM and we could sing and dance for an hour before we went to sell the products in the streets, stopping anyone and telling them our products were on discount. We used to sell snow to Eskimos, why were we able to do that? because of PMA (Positive Mental Attitude). The key to cold calling is like beauty, in eyes of the beholder. If you have no PMA, you cannot sell. Remember the law of average that states that if you went to a dance and every girl or guy you approached for a dance decline your proposal. What do you do? Do you stop? If you have a PMA, you continue until you get one person who agree to dance with you despite how ugly you look, that is is PMA and that is the power of cold calling.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

How To Be Happy at Work? Acknowledge Yourself

How to Find a Niche and Make Money Online

Local Marketing: 3 Simple Low-Cost Strategies

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.