New Book Shows How Positivity Increases Productivity

The number-one reason most Americans leave their jobs is that they don't feel appreciated. In fact, 65% of people surveyed said they got no recognition for good work last year, according to the authors of How Full Is Your Bucket? Positive Strategies for Work and Life, which will be released by Gallup Press next month.

While the daily headlines are full of information on the staggering cost of this disengaged workforce, the authors of How Full Is Your Bucket? focus on the other side of the equation: the impact that positive interactions make on people's lives -- both at work and at home.

How Full Is Your Bucket? was written by Tom Rath and Donald O. Clifton, Ph.D., coauthor of the national bestseller Now, Discover Your Strengths. Gallup's newest book combines more than 50 years of research into the effects of positive psychology with a metaphor used for decades by Dr. Clifton -- the Theory of the Dipper and the Bucket. The metaphor suggests that each person carries an invisible bucket of emotions, along with a dipper, which he or she can use to either add to other people's buckets or to dip from them. In the end, research shows that filling someone else's bucket benefits both parties -- the person who gave the praise and the person who received it.

The Gallup Organization surveyed some 4 million workers on the topics of recognition and praise, and they delivered startling results. Along with the 65% of people who reported receiving no recognition on the job last year, an estimated 22 million workers are presently "actively disengaged," or extremely negative in their workplace. This costs the U.S. economy up to $300 billion dollars a year in productivity -- undoubtedly an underestimate because it does not account for absence, illness, and other problems that result when workers are disengaged from their work and their companies.

The few companies that are lucky and smart enough to have raised the bar and that have begun offering recognition and praise report:

• increased individual productivity
  
  
• better safety records/fewer accidents on the job
  
  
• employees stay with the organization longer
  
  
• higher loyalty and satisfaction scores from customers

The grim origins of studying positivity

Dr. Clifton embarked on his study of the power of positive reinforcement after reviewing a case study by Korean War Major Dr. William E. Mayer, who would later become the U.S. Army's chief psychiatrist. Mayer studied 1,000 American soldiers in a North Korean POW camp where all but the most negative reinforcement was ruthlessly drained from the POWs' lives. Though their basic needs for food, water, and shelter were met -- and none were physically tortured -- 38% of them died. According to the report, many grew hopeless under the negative onslaught and simply gave up on life. Dr. Clifton theorized that positive reinforcement could have an equally powerful, opposite effect. And he set about proving it. In fact, Dr. Clifton devoted his life's work to studying positive, or strengths, psychology -- work that resulted in his being cited as the "Father of Strengths-Based Psychology" in an American Psychological Association Presidential Commendation in 2002.

Dr. Clifton's work had a deeply personal side as well, as he spent much of his life serving as mentor, friend, teacher, and someone who endlessly filled the emotional bucket of his grandson and coauthor, Tom Rath. Rath, who suffers from a rare form of cancer, credits his grandfather's philosophies and teachings with helping him cope with his own health difficulties. How Full Is Your Bucket? was written by this grandfather-grandson duo as Clifton's own life was ending. He did not, in fact, live to see the publication of this book, which embodies his life's work.

Five core strategies

The many small interactions or moments that make up your day -- approximately 20,000 moments by one study's count -- weigh in on either the positive or negative side. How Full Is Your Bucket? shows how these moments influence who we are, how we feel, and how we perform.

What's more, the book outlines five strategies for reducing the negativity our culture seems to cultivate:

• Prevent "Bucket Dipping." Increase your own awareness of how often your comments are negative. Work toward a ratio of five positive comments to every one negative comment.
  
  
• Shine a Light on What Is Right. Try focusing on what employees or peers do right rather than where they need improvement, and discover the power of reinforcing good behaviors.
  
  
• Make Best Friends. People with best friends at work have better safety records, receive higher customer satisfaction scores, and increase workplace productivity.
  
  
• Give Unexpectedly. A recent poll showed that the vast majority of people prefer gifts that are unexpected.
  
  
• Reverse the Golden Rule. Instead of "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," you should "Do unto others as they would have you do unto them." Individualization is key when filling others' buckets.

How Full Is Your Bucket? is filled with sound advice for executives hoping to reap the tangible benefits of a positive atmosphere in the workplace. It also offers great insights to anyone who wants a better life -- both at home and at work.

About the authors

Tom Rath is a Global Practice Leader at The Gallup Organization. He has led in the creation of assessments, books, and professional development programs, including the science, technology, and language underpinning the bestselling book, Now, Discover Your Strengths. Tom received an undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and is pursuing a graduate degree from Johns Hopkins. He lives in Washington, D.C.

Donald O. Clifton, Ph.D. (1924-2003), was cited as the "Father of Strengths-Based Psychology" in an American Psychological Association Presidential Commendation in 2002. He was a chairman of Gallup, Inc., and he invented the Clifton StrengthsFinder, an assessment that has helped more than 1 million people around the world discover their talents. He coauthored several books, including the bestseller, Now, Discover Your Strengths.

For more information, contact:

Barbara Cave Henricks
Cave Henricks Communications
512-301-8936 or barbara@cavehenricks.com