Rounding up the latest in sales research and innovation.
November 17, 2021
By Rachel Smith
This month our focus has been on positive psychology and how it can be used by sales professionals and sales teams to focus on what makes them happy, which translates to higher productivity. For our news roundup this month, we’ll be sharing the latest in positive psychology research and resources for the B2B crowd.
Positive psychology explores how we can identify and build the mental assets that lead to a more fulfilling life experience. Its purpose is in no way meant to have us ignore or try to change all of our negative feelings. In fact, the school of thought promoting the idea of always having a positive attitude, even when things are difficult, is known as toxic positivity.
This recent article shares some of the research that has uncovered the dangers of toxic positivity. For example, avoiding negative emotions leads them to return later and stronger. Furthermore, invalidating someone’s negative emotions, such as by criticizing or ignoring them, is harmful to our mental health.
It turns out that humans are pre-programmed to pay attention to the negative more than the positive. Why? Because we’re still cavemen. Our ancestors who were better at looking out for danger were more likely to survive. It’s even evident in our vocabulary—we have more varied words for describing negative events and pain than we do positive events and pleasure.
Even the folks over at the Good News Network know that we need to embrace our darker feelings. Here they share research from UC Berkeley showing that those who accept their bad feelings (rather than judge themselves for having them) end up having fewer bad feelings. In order to be happy, you have to sometimes let yourself be sad.
You’ve likely heard about (or even practiced) mindfulness. It’s the practice of focusing on what you’re doing and feeling—being fully present in the moment. It’s been proven to improve how we think and focus, as well as support longer-term wellbeing and work performance.
A recent report shared in the Harvard Business Review, however, shows that for a subset of the population, practicing mindfulness could be detrimental. For employees whose job requires surface acting, or displaying inauthentic emotions, mindfulness practices resulted in lower performance.
Who are these surface actors? You’re likely one. Anyone who is customer facing, who has to smile while a client yells about something that’s not your fault. It makes sense that mindfulness during these moments would simply make one more aware that they are suppressing their feelings. Being “mindless” in these circumstances is often the best coping strategy.
This does not mean that customer-facing workers can’t practice and benefit from mindfulness. It just means more thought needs to go into when mindfulness is being practiced.
The researchers and practitioners as PositivePsychology.com just shared a great article about how employees can be happier at work. Not only does it share ideas on how to build positivity at work and what things impact our happiness at work most—it also provides all kinds of resources for those interested in learning more about positive psychology.
Not sure how happy you are at work? They link to several online surveys you can take to better quantify your feelings. Looking to read up on positive psychology? There’s a list of recommended books. Prefer video? There are links to loads of TED Talks that can teach you more. Plus, you’ll learn what the word “arbedjsglæde” means.
Looking for more? Marie Skelton shared the top positive psychology research that was published in the first half of 2021. From a study showing that Europeans who saw more species of birds each day were happier to one that explores how watching TV during COVID lockdown is good for you. (See? I wasn’t binge watching Ted Lasso. I was practicing self-care!)
More than half of large corporations have mindfulness training for employees, but what about the little guys? When you’re running a startup or other small business, you don’t have a human resources department or the money to schedule company-wide training. A recent study out of Stetson University aimed to look specifically at what could be done for sales professionals in small businesses. They found that relational coordination (high-quality relationships with shared goals, shared knowledge, and mutual respect) as well as supervisor support help promote thriving employees with higher job satisfaction.
Finally, the 2021 State of Mental Health in Sales Report from UNCrushed and the Sales Health Alliance is a great resource for anyone managing a sales team of any size. It shares the factors that contribute to sales professionals feeling engaged and motivated, as well as what kind of support sales professionals are looking for from their company.
Sales is a high-stress environment. Whether you choose to look at it from the perspective of increasing production and reducing turnover, or as part of your compassionate company culture, looking to positive psychology as a way to improve happiness and job satisfaction simply makes sense.
Thank you for reading, and thank you in advance for getting in touch with us at mastery@maestrogroup.co to schedule your training!
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