Positive Psychology and Change

5 Using Positive Psychology to Achieve Change at the Team and Individual Level

Introduction

Much of this book is devoted to exploring large group transformational collaborative approaches. However, many of the principles can be applied to help achieve individual and team development. We will discuss applications at the organization or large group level in the next few chapters; here I want to give some guidance on how to apply this thinking at the individual, team, or small group level, and to introduce some of the many particular techniques that have been developed in this area. Unlike opportunities at the larger system or organizational level, which usually have to be negotiated, opportunities to create change at an individual or team level occur all the time. Understanding a few key principles will help you to make the most of opportunities as they occur. We will then go on to look at ways of putting these principles into action.

Principles

1. Use micro-moments well

Life is a series of micro-moments. At a recent conference, Rath quoted a figure of 19,200 moments in a day (2015), all of which have the potential to change what happens next. Change is so often thought of as a big bang event in organizations, yet it can equally well be seen as the culmination of lots of small shifts in behaviour, lots of micro-moments where something different happens. Recognizing ...