How helpless is your organization?

Organizations suffering from “learned helplessness” are in a state of immobility. They seem to be unable to get into action and change the situation they are in. And this is not helping them in difficult situations such as the current economic downturn. Big and well known corporations that seem to have passed the test of time can fall in this situation leading them to bankruptcy. The last year we saw big names, like Lehman Brother go under. The more you recognise the symptoms causing this “learned helplessness”, the better it can be cured. And simple interventions can have a huge impact.

“Learned Helplessness” was defined by Martin Seligman, an American psychologist and founder of positive psychology movement.

It is a psychological state where people feel powerless to change their self or situation. This primarily caused when people attribute negative things in life to internal, stable and global factors. Essentially, it means that persons feel as if change is not possible, since there is a pervasive and unchangeable personal problem.

 “We like this training very much but, things will never change over here.” How many times did I hear this one-liner that kills it all, when helping teams on teambuilding interventions? And I have a hard time not feeling depressed when hearing that.

Burn out is common by IT employees who staff IT helpdesks. The simple fact that there is a helpdesk just one call away, make employees helpless for all their computer worries. They would call even the helpdesk for turning on the computer in the morning, you never know…

Leadership coaching, teambuilding or even creativity training make no sense when indeed people need to return to a system that puts them in this learned helplessness. As Trevor Cook writes in his blog:

“Bringing out Americans to teach you to be optimistic won’t matter a jot if your work situation is crap and if you can’t change it and you’re stuck there for life. That’s enough to depress anyone and no amount of fancy psychologising is going to change that.”

Trevor Cook’s Blog

The system needs to change. This change needs to be done by the people that can change the system. But therefore they need to understand what could make the systems helpless.

In extreme cases helplessness can lead to suicide. France Telecom knows already 28 suicides cases since February this year with major reason “the bad work situation”. It is sure that behavioural training will not work to solve this.

The main reasons for helplessness are:

Attribution style

What is the attribution style in the organization? Internal blaming is seen as one of the reasons for learned helplessness. “It’s me.” How much blaming is been done. Deficit language is negative for the morale and could be very threatening. Is there a “half empty bottle” communication or a “half full bottle” communication practised? Every reality can be seen from a negative or a positive stance. How does your organization does look upon reality?

Perception of control and predictability of the future

It is also called “global distortion.” “It will affect everything I do.” How do co-workers perceive having control over the changes that happen to them. Is there a top down directive style of communication in the organization? Or is communication based on consensus where co-workers are really heard? What is done with feedback coming from the work floor? Do co-workers see real change happening when they advise? And if nothing is done with their advice, is that then also communicated to them?

Stability generalization

“It will last forever.” Co-workers see changes as undetermined in time.  They loose completely track of right perspectives. And a small move of the office becomes a major upset. Even a new telephone system can lead people in depression and make them going on sick leave.

Motivational climate

How are co-workers motivated? What happens when people make mistakes? Am I allowed to ask for help when I encounter difficulties in my job or career? Is there help organized by the Learning and Development Department? What is the learning culture in your organization? Do you learn continually or is learning inhibited? Is coaching offered to repair weaknesses or to develop strenghts?

Answers to the problem lie in the positive psychology.

Positive psychology is a movement started by people like Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers and Erich From. It studies the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive. More recently researchers like Martin Seligman, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi have done work in that field.

Positive psychology focuses around Positive experiences and positive future. More recent approaches can be found in Appreciative Inquiry and Solution Focussed Coaching.

Positive Experiences

Mindfulness

This approach is a mix of western and eastern knowledge. It is defined as actively searching for novelty. It is characterised as non-judging, non-striving, and accepting.  Its benefits include reduction of stress, anxiety, depression and chronic pain.

People accepting changes are more willing to move forward to the change. But it needs facilitation and communication to help everybody through the change cycle. Mindfulness training can be a good help in this. But Meditation and other eastern practices are still seen as odd in our western organisations. In China and Japan it is not uncommon to see groups practice Tai chi or other meditative practices together on the work floor. People that are “well-centred” can coop better with external stressful contexts.

Flow

Flow as defined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, is a state of absorption in one’s work characterised by intense concentration, loss of self awareness, a feeling of control, and a sense of “time is flying”. Flow is an intrinsically rewarding experience and it can also help one achieve a goal or improve skills.

How many of you experience flow at work? And what can you do in your current work environment in order to make flow happen? In our Western organizations there is not much focus on the fact whether employees are having fun in what they do and whether they experience a state of flow. And yet motivation and employee engagement are main issues in organizations.

Positive futures

Self-efficacy

Self-efficacy is one’s belief in one’s ability to accomplish a task by one’s own efforts. High self-efficacy has positive effects on one’s general well being and also the physical well being.

In what extend can your co-workers find themselves the answers to their problems? Is it worth changing the IT help line in an on-line problem solving system?  Why not organize an intranet forum system where co-workers can help each other on their IT problems.

Does your organization stimulates self-efficacy or does it take away the self efficacy of your co-workers? Are employees listened at when they come with solutions for their problems? My experience is that employees are best placed to solve their work related problems. Are they empowered to do so?

Learned optimism

Learned optimism is the habit of attributing one’s failures to causes that are external (not personal), variable (not permanent), and specific (limited to a specific situation). This explanatory style is associated with better performances, greater satisfaction in interpersonal relationships, better coping and less vulnerability to depression.

One big example of this is the model of Timothy Galloway, The inner game of tennis. In his coaching he helps tennis players to focus on the ball and the racket. This helps them to exclude their inner dialogue that undermines their performances. What is the inner dialogue of your organization?

Hope

Hope is a learned style of goal-directed thinking in which the person utilizes both pathways thinking (the perceived capacity to find routes to desired goals) and agency thinking (the requisite motivations to use those routes).

The best examples where this is practised is in Appreciative Inquiry and Solution Focussed Coaching. The simpliest form is done with the “Wonder question”. How would you dream your ideal workenvironment?

We helped many groups and teams from a so called “learned helplessness” to a “learned optimism”. It does not take long and the effects are enormous. And it helps organizations to move through difficult moments of change.

Some questions to summarize our thinking:

How much fun do you experience in your workplace?

How many times a day do you experience “flow” when doing your job?

How proud are you to be part of your organization?

How do you cope with failures?

How free are you to try out something different?

How would you describe your ideal worksituation?

Good luck