Hope is more powerful than happiness at work
Hope is probably the best way to mobilize a group of people and ensure that they achieve their goals – so says a team of researchers at Athens University of Political and Social Sciences.
Positive psychology has given the issue of hope a new lease on life. Generally speaking, hope reflects a person’s expectations for the best possible outcome and the accompanying work to achieve that. As such, hope is both a source of motivation for mobilizing cognitive resources over the long term and for focusing one’s attention on the search for relevant clues to meet objectives. It is hope’s proactive and contextualized dimension, as well as its connection with motivation, that distinguishes it from optimism. In other words, individuals who are confident in their ability to get what they want are more successful at charting their own course and are less sensitive to anything that might get in their way. Conversely, a lack of hope is destabilizing, reducing any feedback to a source of rumination and doubt. In addition to reinforcing adaptability, hope is an essential catalyst for the success of individuals at work. A study by Karatepe (2014) showed that employees with the highest levels of hope were more engaged and provided much better customer service.
Although researchers don’t have concrete leads, they suggest that we think about how to give hope to people who may not have any, both as individuals or as part of a collective. There is evidence to support the idea that efforts to promote hope are effective when it comes to improving motivation and commitment (Gallagher, Marques, Lopez, 2017).
Find out more:
“The Role of Hope in Academic and Work Environments: An Integrative Literature Review” by Yotsidi, V., Pagoulatou, A., Kyriazos, T., and Stalikas, A. (Psychology 9, 385-402, 2018)
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