Understanding and reacting to psychological principles, such as employee motivations, emotional intelligence, and subconscious biases, can create a more cohesive and productive work environment.
Leaders can also better support their teams by recognizing the unseen elements of company culture—such as underlying values and unspoken norms. Understanding these deeper cultural dynamics can bring fresh insights, helping employees and management uncover and address the psychological factors that influence workplace behavior and morale.
The Role of Workplace Psychology
Workplace psychology is the practice and application of psychological principles in the workplace, according to Stafford University. Its goal is to improve employee morale, productivity, creativity, and profitability.
Workplace psychology is applied in many ways.
Employee Morale
Understanding psychology can help leaders develop a "safe" environment where employees can comfortably take risks and express ideas. Teams that interact in psychologically safe environments tend to have fewer interpersonal conflicts and perform better.
Workspace environments are also critical; psychologists can help company leaders identify environments that will improve employee satisfaction. For example, research suggests that blue and green colors promote calmness, while oranges and reds encourage passion and energy. The amount of space allotted to each worker also impacts employee morale.
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is the ability to perceive, process, and regulate emotional information. Team members' emotional intelligence is vital to a successful organization because a high degree of emotional intelligence reduces conflicts, improves communication, and allows for a culture of innovation.
Psychologists and those trained in psychology can provide tools and resources to help teams improve their emotional intelligence. For example, they can teach employees to manage emotions, become more empathetic, or change negative thought patterns.
Subconscious Biases
Sometimes, people unknowingly have preconceived notions that impact their judgment. The biases can be related to race, gender, beauty, affinity (having similar interests), or name. These subconscious biases can negatively affect a company's culture. They can lead to homogeneous teams, which limits creativity. Bias can also lead to unfair treatment in hiring and promotions, which leads to poor morale and loss of talented workers. It may also lead to lower client satisfaction.
Companies can use tools like an Implicit Associations Test to measure subconscious bias. They can also address it by encouraging self-awareness, offering the opportunity to talk with others from socially dissimilar groups, and facilitating discussions to promote bias literacy.
The Role of Outsiders In Improving Culture
Sometimes, unspoken values or norms are deeply ingrained in a company's culture. In these cases, a successful culture change may require consultants or other outsiders who understand these dynamics and can address them in ways that motivate both leaders and employees to change.
One way to accomplish this is by hiring a motivational keynote speaker to help change a company's culture by injecting new ideas into the setting of a conference or workshop. They can tell inspiring stories that unite the team around a new goal.
A speaker can also address issues of diversity and inclusion, including subconscious bias, by creating a sense of common purpose. They can uplift low spirits and improve morale with inspirational stories. Through their speech, they can also help build the team's capacity for empathy and positivity.
Hiring the Right Motivational Keynote Speaker
Companies can create a workshop for team members with a motivational speaker as the centerpiece. However, companies should choose their motivational speakers carefully so that the message aligns with the values the company hopes to foster. Also, consider the speaker's expertise. Do they understand the psychological principles at work in your company and how they can be changed? Also, do they have knowledge of your industry and some of the roles your team members fill?
When narrowing down potential speakers, listen to several speeches to ensure the speaking style is dynamic, entertaining, and relevant to employees. Also, check references and reviews.
Once a company chooses its speaker, it should also work with them to provide content tailored to its goals.
Key Takeaways
Psychology plays a significant role in all aspects of life, including the workplace. Understanding psychology can help a company create a culture that nurtures employees and encourages innovation. While workplace psychology applies in many settings, three are especially important.
- Psychological principles can understand and improve employee morale, resulting in better business outcomes.
- The level of emotional intelligence in the workplace affects motivation and interpersonal relations. Interpersonal relations can make or break teams. Training can improve emotional intelligence.
- Subconscious bias leads to a homogeneous workforce and unfair hiring and promotion decisions. Teams with similar people are less creative than diverse teams, and unfair promotion decisions lead to poor morale and turnover.
Often, a company's culture is entrenched. Outside help is necessary to help uncover and change the psychological factors that negatively influence the workplace. A motivational keynote speaker is an excellent resource for bringing about cultural change. Many understand the deep undercurrents of company culture, can bring these to light, and inspire change. When choosing a motivational speaker, ensure their passions and values align with your company's.
