‘RACE’ towards positivity at workplace

“When leaders adopt positive practices for change, it has significant outcomes”

Positive organizational change has grown out of the newly emerging field of positive organizational scholarship (POS), which refers to the investigation of positive outcomes, practices, attributes, and changes that occur in organizations and their members.

Positive change examines factors that influence adoption of a positive lens, focusing on positively deviant performance, effects of an affirmative bias, and impact of virtuousness or best of human conditions.

Individuals who energize others performed higher than even those who were in the central role in the network.

After the global financial crisis, there was an urgent need for change at a Middle-Eastern financial services firm. The management team designed a positive business initiative called ‘RACE’, which involved various sports, arts, cultural, and everyday business activities, intended to engage employees and build their psychological strengths.

The RACE initiative had four major events—

Marathon (daily business parameters), hurdles (business challenges), sprint (sports), and relay (arts and cultural).

The WOW factor of “RACE”:

• These practices engage the employees cognitively, emotionally, and physically.
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• These positive practices generate positively deviant performance.
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• Individuals feel safe to express themselves in these informal settings.
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• The fear of underperformance gets converted into the joy of participation.
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• On an ongoing basis, they set goals and identify alternative pathways for goal achievement.
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• When routine jobs are converted into games, employees are more likely to work with intensity and invest their energies into it.

—Taken from Role of Self-efficacy, Optimism and Job Engagement in Positive Change: Evidence from the Middle East, Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers.

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