Professional well-being

Martin Seligman's latest book on well-being, 'Flourish' (Random House Australia, 2011), contains many gems.  The following selections appear in the chapter dealing with ‘The Politics and Economics of Well-Being’:

"Ethics and what we care about are not by any means the same thing.  ... Ethics are the rules you apply to get what you care about.  What you care about - your values - is more basic than ethics”. (p.229)

"There are some things we care about instinctively ...  (B)ut most of what we care about is learned". (ibid)

"Getting what we care about - positive accomplishment - is one of the elements of well-being.  A course on positive business would argue that well-being comes from five different pursuits:  positive emotion, engagement, positive accomplishment, positive relations, and meaning.  If you want well-being, you will not get it if you care only about accomplishment".  (p.231)

Prof Seligman is Fox Leadership Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, but he has a local profile through his ground breaking work with Geelong Grammar School.  They have adopted a whole of school approach to ‘Positive Education’ based on the principles developed by Prof Seligman and his faculty.  Members interested in the educational aspects of his work may wish to visit www.ggs.vic.edu.au/Positive-Education/Overview.aspx

From the perspective of the profession - committed to promoting the art science and ethics of dentistry – the well-being of practitioners, staff and patients is a key focus for our thinking.  Dealing with pressures, obligations, responsibilities, and coping with change are all part of our daily engagement with the world.

Often when we are faced with implementing change in our work routines and priorities, we feel challenged and, depending on our age, we may suffer varying degrees of irritation or grumpiness – which we acknowledge are not normally associated with well-being.

In his chapter on ‘Grit, character, and achievement’, Prof Seligman offers a fresh perspective on the way social science has encouraged us to abdicate responsibility for the way we respond to external events, by blaming the environmental factors for our circumstances.  He argues that the once accepted concept of ‘bad character’ was replaced in the late 1880s by the premise of a malignant environment producing crime and discontent.
 
The consequences of this shift over the ensuing century are expressed in the following critique:

“First, individuals are no longer responsible for their actions, since the causes lie not in the person but in the situation.  This means the interventions must change: if you want to make a better world, you should alleviate the circumstances that produce bad actions rather than waste your time trying to change character or punishing bad behaviour and rewarding good behaviour.  Second, progressive science must isolate the situations that shape crime, ignorance, prejudice, failure, and all the other ills that befall human beings, so that these situations can be corrected.  Using money to correct social problems becomes the primary intervention.  Third the focus of inquiry must be bad events, not good events.  In social science it makes sense to excuse Sammy’s failure at school because she was hungry, or abused, or came from a home in which learning was not valued.  In contrast, we don’t take credit away from people who do good things, because it makes little sense to “excuse” good behaviour by invoking the circumstances that led up to it.  It is odd to say that Sammy gave such a good speech because she went to good schools, had loving parents, and is well fed.  Finally, and so basic as to be almost invisible, the situation view propounds the premise that we are driven by the past rather than drawn by the future.” (p.105)

Prof Seligman does not advocate giving up on social reform, but he does argue that this should be accompanied by identifying and then shaping character, and he notes that “Reward and punishment shape character, not just behaviour”.

His key message for us all, whether it be in running a dental practice or working for a professional association, is that:

“… human beings are often, perhaps more often, drawn by the future than they are driven by the past, and so a science that measures and builds expectations, planning and conscious choice will be more potent than a science of habits, drives and circumstances”.  (p.106)

Rather than simply experiencing positive emotions, Prof Seligman defines ‘well-being’ through the acronym PERMA, representing:
P:  Positive Emotions – experiencing joy and pleasure.
E:  Engagement (or flow) – being consciously involved in our activities.
R:  Relationships – having enjoyable and supportive interactions with others.
M:  Meaning – creating a purposeful narrative about our lives.
A:  Accomplishments – completing our goals and following our core values (the things we care about most).

As we face the year ahead, and consider the action required to meet new challenges like practice accreditation, the development of aspirational goals, and in particular the commitment to make positive choices with the right motivations (e.g. providing the best possible care to patients) will help us to sense that we too are ‘drawn by the future’, rather than resisting improvements because it disrupts our habits.

I highly recommend that you obtain a copy of Flourish, and once having read it yourself, please circulate it amongst your staff. ADAVB’s Reading Room has a copy of the book.

See also:
www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu
www.ppc.sas.upenn.edu/index.html
www.ggs.vic.edu.au/Positive-Education/Overview.aspx