Increase your organization's psychological capital
Expert tips
Published
Fierce competition, rapid changes and an unstable world make it important for organizations and companies to create sustainable workplaces where employees stay, perform and feel good long term. By understanding and nurturing psychological capital, you can increase well-being and performance at your workplace.
Psychological capital refers to the developable mental resources that help us feel well, perform better, and cope with crises and difficulties. Research in positive psychology shows that high psychological capital is significant both in private life and in workplaces.
At work, high psychological capital fosters greater motivation and performance while reducing perceived stress and burnout. It also enhances leadership, communication, and collaboration. For organizations at large, this has been shown to lead to improved actual results and lower employee turnover.
Milou Häggå, organizational consultant at Falck.
– We see that companies with high psychological capital thrive better – they are more creative, motivated and solution-oriented. This has a positive effect on the entire organization because when employees feel good, the organization also feels good, says Milou Häggå, organizational consultant at Falck.
Psychological capital can also lead to better resilience and the ability to recover from adversity and be strengthened by it. By working with psychological capital, you equip the organization for more difficult times and make it possible for you to cope with and get out of crises better together.
Working with positive psychology
To effectively work with psychological capital, there are four main components to focus on: Hope, Self-efficacy, Resilience, and Optimism. By strengthening these components in your employees, you enhance their psychological capital.
Hope involves having a positive outlook on the future. It's important to set goals, learn from past mistakes, and have common milestones to look forward to. In the workplace, this can increase a sense of purpose, motivation, and creativity among employees.
Self-efficacy, synonymous with self-confidence, is about having trust in one's own competence and abilities while being willing to seek help and seek knowledge to grow. This can enhance performance and independence among employees.
Det är viktigt att bygga upp psykologiskt kapital när allt rullar på så att det finns resurser att ta av vid kriser och svårigheter
Resilience means the ability to recover from adversity and be strengthened by it. By being careful with cooping strategies, where physical capacity is an important strategy, you buffer resilience (resistance) for more difficult times. In the workplace, this can reduce stress and increase the ability to cope with difficult change.
Optimism is about seeing the positive in situations without shying away from obstacles and problems. The basic view, however, is to be convinced that the avoidable difficulties can be overcome. This creates a positive and constructive attitude that promotes collaboration and problem-solving.
Expert tips to strengthen psychological capital
There is a lot you can do yourself to strengthen the psychological capital in your workplace. Here are Milou Häggås' four tips on what to do today:
Work with goal setting: set clear common and individual goals, follow up on interim goals and celebrate successes.
Boost self-confidence: encourage employees to practice new skills, challenge themselves, and improve themselves without direct demands on performance.
Encourage balance: provide space for recovery and support employees to replenish their basic needs such as sleep, diet, exercise and good relationships.
Positive internal and external dialogue: work on jointly seeing strengths and lessons learned even in the face of adversity and encourage employees to have a positive inner dialogue.
Would you like to discuss a development initiative for your management team, your team or for your own leadership development? Read more and contact us under our organizational and leadership services. See also our webinar on Falck Play.
