Systems Thinking · Positive Psychology at Work

Jun 19

At college today our MAPP class completed a SWOT Analysis for Positive Psychology. Here’s a summary of what we thought are its greatest Strengths (not necessarily in priority order) :

Evidence-based
Universal – applies to all cultures and all life-stages
Captures the public imagination
Provides a common language
Deals with real-life issues
Brings together diverse fields, such as economics, politics, design and philosophy
Goes beyond the “medical model” of traditional psychology
Underpins sustainable development
Bridges academia and real world
Acknowledges the negative in human experience
Gives us resources

I’ll post some further info on the SWOT over the next few days.

Thanks to:

Lucy, Francesca, Claire, Paul, Emily, Charlotte, Elena, Melody, Sam, Valerie, Eleni, Cassie & Ilona for their input, and to Dr Carol Craig & Nic Marks for suggesting the exercise.

Image: Editor B

Apr 30

Monitoring Well-being in Schools

According to the BBC News today, there are plans afoot to make UK schools monitor children’s well-being, as well as their exam results.

On closer inspection of the source report in the Guardian, 18 new social targets are being proposed, among them:

* bullying
* teenage pregnancy rates
* pupil’s drug problems
* criminal records
* obesity levels.

Apparently the move is part of a government attempt to reduce drug use, and the teenage pregnancy rate (ours is the highest in Europe). How setting new targets for schools is going to achieve this I’m not entirely sure. ‘What gets measured gets managed’ say some business people. OK, but that’s a long way away from ‘what gets measured gets managed well’.

Incidentally, the above 5 measures are not well-being measures, strictly speaking. The assumption being made by the government (wrongly) is that if you reduce what is negative (ill-being) you automatically increase what is positive (well-being). Personally, I think we’d have far more of a positive effect if we actually focussed on what makes children flourish in the first place.

If you have any views on this, I’d love to hear them.

Jan 3

Where am I now, and where do I want to be?

With 2006 now almost out of sight and the New Year on its way you might be wondering…where am I now, and where do I want to be?

Thanks to my experience of living in Asia, and being married to a person of Chinese origin, I have developed an interest in Eastern philosophies and religions. Although I can by no means claim to be an expert, I subscribe to the view that there must be something in it. In fact, it seems to me that the wisdom of the I-Ching is somewhat akin to what we know today in the west to be a ’systems view’ of life. A systems view, put simply says that everything is inter-related; there is no cause without effect. The system of life in Chinese thought is largely determined by yin and yang – or opposites such as male/ female; black/white;hot/cold etc.

The I-Ching, or Book of Changes, is one of the world’s oldest books. The wisdom of the I-Ching as a system has been consulted as far back as 1100 BCE. It is used in modern times to offer solutions to human problems .

Our company logo is based on the Contemporary I-Ching. Hexagram number 10 (hence 10 Consulting). It suggests that there will be success if the qualities of sincerity, honesty and modesty are applied to all interactions. These are the qualities that underpin all of our interactions and that we apply when offering solutions to our clients.

Reference: Palmer, M, Kwok, MH and O’Brien J (1989) The Contemporary I Ching