Building Empathy And Resilience With Positive Psychology

Survive & Thrive

Empathy, resilience, and positivity are some of the foundational elements to building engagement and setting up success as a leader and organization. However, not every organization or leader truly values those three elements in the way they should. So, how do you build them into your change initiative, your business model, and your everyday life?

On this week’s episode of the Survive & Thrive podcast, Jennifer Ayers sits down with Rachana Bhide to discuss the organizational psychology behind building engagement. With her background in consulting and media, including working at Bloomberg, Rachana provides a unique take on how leaders can bolster their empathy, building resilience into the work model, and the power of positivity.

Meeting Rachana Bhide:

Rachana’s background (1:19)

Jennifer introduces Rachana, who shares some of the highlights from her career and what she's been focused on recently.

How can leaders utilize engagement (5:12)

Through the lens of organizational psychology, Rachana looks at how leaders and organizations utilize engagement to successfully undergo a change.

Navigating change with positive psychology:

The challenges of helping navigate change (9:30)

Rachana shares her experiences helping leaders and organizations navigate change, including the challenges she’s faced and the lessons learned from them.

What is “appreciative inquiry?” (14:32)

Let’s zero in on the phrase “appreciative inquiry” which Rachana just used and learn more about what she means by it.

Using positive thinking and curiosity (17:52)

Rachana believes curiosity can be a powerful tool.

Building empathy and resilience:

Helping leaders bolster their empathy (19:37)

Empathy is at the heart of building a case for change. Rachana discusses exercises that can help leaders improve their own empathy.

Building resilience (22:51)

Resilience is another word that has been frequently mentioned in 2020 and 2021. Rachana speaks about the seventh tenet of our change management philosophy and how it points to how companies can build resilience into their work model.

Thriving:

3 things needed to not only survive but thrive in change (28:20)

Rachana gives three things leaders and organizations can do to not only survive but thrive in change.

Rachana’s special project (33:45)

Before wrapping up, Rachana tells us about a very special project she’s working on which encourages positive psychology.