Training in Optimism and Resilience?

[Daniel S. Bowling, III]

I am working with Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania (founder of the "positive psychology" movement) and Chris Peterson of Michigan's Center for Positive Organizational Scholarship on research into optimism and resilience in organizations under stress. We believe, and the data shows, that these traits correlate with higher workplace performance. It also shows these traits can be taught, at least to a measurable extent. We would be very interested in any insights you might have on this topic. Thanks, Dan Bowling, JD, MAPP.

[Diane Kramer]

Dan:
My team has developed a program called the Extraordinary Self Program that systematically develops resilience plus more. I met Martin Seligman at the Positive Psychology conference and he has the brochure. Remind him that I was the woman who introduced herself as Marvin Levine's friend. The Program works by isolating a set of variables that all need to shift in order to get long-lasting resilience. We perhaps have included more in the program than is needed because we modeled flourishing (20% of the population) and even self-actualizing (2%) individuals in order to develop a program that teaches their patterns. Our variables include challenging and changing thoughts, belief changes, detachment methods, alignment of conflicting parts of the Self including the inner critic or judge and the ability to stay in a resource state of unshakeable self-worth and experience positive feelings. We present our program as an active learning project toward a breakthrough goal. It is the interaction of the variables chosen, the methodology of the learning system, and the feedback loops built into the program that get us our results. I would be happy to answer any questions. We are looking for more systematic research on our methods and found someone interested in doing the research at the International Positive Psychology Conference.

Respectfully, Diane Kramer

Dr. Diane Kramer
PeakSkills Learning Systems, Inc.
Melville, NY

[Daniel S. Bowling, III]

Diane Kramer said:

Dan:
My team has developed a program called the Extraordinary Self Program that systematically develops resilience plus more. I met Martin Seligman at the Positive Psychology conference and he has the brochure. Remind him that I was the woman who introduced herself as Marvin Levine's friend. The Program works by isolating a set of variables that all need to shift in order to get long-lasting resilience. We perhaps have included more in the program than is needed because we modeled flourishing (20% of the population) and even self-actualizing (2%) individuals in order to develop a program that teaches their patterns. Our variables include challenging and changing thoughts, belief changes, detachment methods, alignment of conflicting parts of the Self including the inner critic or judge and the ability to stay in a resource state of unshakeable self-worth and experience positive feelings. We present our program as an active learning project toward a breakthrough goal. It is the interaction of the variables chosen, the methodology of the learning system, and the feedback loops built into the program that get us our results. I would be happy to answer any questions. We are looking for more systematic research on our methods and found someone interested in doing the research at the International Positive Psychology Conference.

Respectfully, Diane Kramer

Dr. Diane Kramer
PeakSkills Learning Systems, Inc.
Melville, NY

[Carol Susan DeVaney]

Dan
As I am sure you know this is not all new. This harks back to the Penn State work around Cognitive Restructuring. Also niecely linked to the work on Appreciative Inquiry and Strength base competencies. I was fortunate enough to work with Dr. John Morgan in the 1970s in actually implementing some of these concepts in real community and later workplace settings. You might want to look at the book that chronicles our journey called Prevention in Community Mental Health. I love Martin Seligman's approach and do think his making the idea of challenging cognitive disonnance and teaching positive self talk accessible to the average person is brilliant. As I moved from the community/clinical practice 25 years ago the application in the workplace settings was an easy shift. Carol Susan DeVaney, CPF,CPLP

[Diane Kramer]

Dan:

I noticed you posted a reply to my comment and yet there is only my comment showing a second time. What is your reply?

Warmly, Diane

[Eileen M. Rogers]

Hello Dan, thanks for posting this thread. I too was at the IPPA first world congress and did a poster session on Building Positive Leadership and published an article in May in Leadership Excellence magazine on Optimism and Positivity: The Leader's Edge in Turbulent Times. In the executive leadership programs offered by my company, I use content that is founded in positive psychology, including strengths-based leadership and organizations, emotional and social intelligence and other approaches that support growth in leaders on what Marcus Buckingham stated so well ‘The opposite of a leader isn't a follower. The opposite of a leader is a pessimist.’
It is delightful to find others with a similar perspective!

[Jason Kleid]

In today's ever changing work environment companies become very focused on problems. When that happens they lose their forward focus and vision. The challenge is to help leadership focus on the right things and restore a positive forward view within themselves and then to help their employees to do the same. The old adage is still true; "Positive Thinking Produces Positive Results".

I am now working with a company with this very issue. This past Monday I had one team begin to list what is working, not what is not working. We then chose one topic and began to analyze WHY it was working. Soon they began to realize that there were things to be proud of. That they and their company were actually having success.

This step of course is just a beginning to the process. Negative emotions are a lot stronger than positive emotions. Working to build capacities around emotional intelligence is very important to staying optimistic and resilient. Building a persons capacity in the areas of Self-Management and Self-Awareness are keys to staying positive. One theory I have is that there might be a group EQ quotient. If a team can raise their group EQ they can be very resilient.

These are just a few thoughts.
Jason Kleid

[Daniel S. Bowling, III]

Thanks for the great comments, everybody. As your responses show, there is a lot of substance around this topic, and I look forward to hearing more about your and others' research and applications.

All the best, Dan