The Rising Interest in Positive Psychology

Please do not feed the dragons

Many colleagues in our network are currently engaging with the field of positive psychology in various ways. We’re also seeing a growing demand from our clients, who are interested in applying its principles to enhance workplace well-being and performance. But what exactly is positive psychology, and why is it gaining so much attention?

What is Positive Psychology?

Positive psychology is a subfield that was co-founded by American psychologist Martin Seligman in the late 1990s. It focuses on scientifically exploring and enhancing human strengths and well-being, setting it apart from traditional psychology, which has primarily focused on diagnosing and treating mental illness. In Germany, the field gained visibility through the work of Judith Mangelsdorf, who has been a significant advocate and researcher in this area, among others, helping bridge the gap between research and practical application in German-speaking regions.

Unlike “positive thinking” or “self-help” movements, which often emphasize a somewhat simplistic "just think positively" approach, positive psychology offers a research-based framework. Researchers in the field, such as Barbara Fredrickson, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, and Kim Cameron, focus on scientifically investigating elements like optimism, resilience, flow, and meaning, aiming to identify evidence-backed methods to lead a more fulfilling life.

Misconceptions About Positive Psychology

The term "positive psychology" can be a little misleading. While the field promotes the study of positive emotions, strengths, and virtues, it does not advocate ignoring or suppressing negative experiences. Instead, positive psychology acknowledges the full range of human emotions and experiences and seeks to balance both sides. This sometimes leads to confusion or misinterpretation, where positive psychology is mistakenly equated with the positive thinking movement. Positive thinking encourages an optimistic outlook, often without addressing underlying challenges. In contrast, positive psychology emphasizes a balanced approach that builds on strengths while constructively addressing areas for improvement.

Contributions of Positive Psychology

Optimism can be learned

The field’s valuable contribution is its focus on building strengths and cultivating achievements rather than solely treating pathology. By shifting attention towards what works well and where people or teams excel, positive psychology creates a strong developmental momentum and fosters intrinsic motivation. This approach encourages individuals and organizations to enhance their potential and grow more effectively. Positive psychology has introduced concepts like “learned optimism” (Seligman) and “flow” (Csikszentmihalyi), which emphasize building mental and emotional resources that support resilience and high performance.

Practical Tools in Positive Psychology

Positive psychology offers several practical tools, many of which are relevant and applicable in workplaces:

  • Instruments like the VIA Character Strengths Survey, developed by Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman, help individuals identify their core strengths. Research shows that focusing on and applying these strengths can boost engagement, productivity, and overall well-being.

  • These practices have been around in Buddhism and other spiritual traditions for a long time. A daily practice, such as keeping a gratitude journal or regularly expressing appreciation to colleagues, can foster positive emotions and improve interpersonal relationships. This has been confirmed by research by Robert Emmons.

  • Using techniques to reframe challenges or setbacks in a constructive light can help individuals manage stress and maintain motivation. Fredrickson’s Broaden-and-Build theory emphasizes that positive emotions help broaden one’s ability to see solutions and “build” coping resources.

  • Seligman’s learned optimism exercises teach individuals to challenge pessimistic thoughts and replace them with more constructive alternatives. This skill can help employees remain resilient and goal-focused in the face of adversity.

  • Based on Csikszentmihalyi’s work, organizations can design tasks or work environments that allow employees to enter “flow” states – those deeply immersive experiences where individuals lose sense of time due to high engagement in challenging, meaningful tasks.

  • Positive psychology has also shown the importance of connecting work to a greater purpose, which can significantly boost motivation. Viktor Frankl, an early influencer of positive psychology, emphasized that meaning is crucial to human fulfillment, a notion that is now embedded in many coaching and leadership frameworks.

Positive psychology offers a holistic, evidence-based approach to human flourishing. Rather than merely fixing what’s wrong, it celebrates and enhances what is right, helping to build an environment where people can thrive individually and collectively.

I teamed up with my colleague Sabine Havenstein for a conversation about positive psychology and positive leadership in two parts. This is part of a short self-learning experience that we created for the leaders one of our clients. You can find it here.

In a future blog post our colleague Heike Horn will dive deeper into Positive Leadership and the PERMA Lead Model.

Frank Busch
Director Competence Development Network

Time and Self-Management: Old hat or the must-have of the hour?

Under Pressure….Many of us know the feeling of constant time pressure, even though we have numerous technical aids and smart apps at our disposal. Yes, we also love good technical PM apps and solutions.

But instead of feeling relief, some of us get into an endurance run that seems to never end. We, the CDN team, encountered this phenomenon more and more often, especially in young, dynamic companies.

And because support and good answers being our profession and credo,
we sat down five years ago and looked at proven time and self-management methods and approaches . We turned them inside out, adapted them to today's and merged them into a modern training and coaching offer for employees and managers.
Today, 5 years later, these offers are not only part of the fixed PE repertoire of our customers – they are also regularly requested by our new customers

Time and self-management: A must in our fast-paced world?

Time management is much more than a means of increasing efficiency. It is the key to tackling deeper challenges. Time management - often misunderstand as a bundle of methods- is a lifelong skill that helps us to stay in control, both internally and externally, and to successfully orient ourselves in fast-paced worlds.

But how do we manage to keep track of things in the midst of constant change?

What does science say?

Sociologist Hartmut Rosa describes three dimensions of acceleration that shape our lives:

  1. Technical acceleration

  2. Accelerating social change

  3. Accelerating the pace of life

These dimensions are closely linked and often lead to overwhelm. But how do we control these processes instead of letting ourselves be driven by them?

Technical Acceleration: Time Saving or Stress Trap?

Technological innovations are supposed to save us time. From smartphones to fast internet to numerous project management tools – they all promise to make our everyday lives more efficient. But the reality is often different: More technology often means more hectic. Between "coffee to go", parallel video calls and a flood of e-mails, we feel as if time is slipping out of our hands. 
Technical acceleration must be designed so that it can bring us the relief we hope for instead of increasing our pressure.

The transformation of society: flexible, but exhausted faster?

In addition to technological changes, rapid societal change is taking place. Working models such as remote work, agile approaches and a new understanding of leadership require us to be constantly adaptable. At the same time, social media dictates trends that come and go before we can follow them. This constant adaptation costs not only energy, but also time – and often leads to excessive demands.

Choosing flexible forms of work consciously
and appropriately for your own working environment, or not doing so - that's what our CDN training offers are all about.

The pace of life: Caught in the fast lane?

Hartmunt Rosa also describes the acceleration of the pace of life. Everything has to go faster, the to-do list is getting longer, and we rush from one task to the next. In the process, the most important thing often falls by the wayside: time for ourselves and the affairs of our hearts. Instead of enjoying life, we get into an endurance run that exhausts us. The result? Stress and the feeling of never really being "finished".

Our CDN time and self-management offers address the topic individually and company-specifically. 'Cause there are ways to manage this acceleration cycle, to get out of it and to regain focus. And for those who have now kindfully read to the end:

Here are three immediate approaches that can help you reduce stress and make better use of your time:

  1. Integrate deceleration into everyday life: Breaks are not a luxury, but necessary to stay productive and healthy. Mindfulness exercises or simply being offline helps to clear your head.

  2. Priorities instead of multitasking: Not everything has to be done immediately. Set clear priorities, figure out what's really important, and focus on that. This will bring you peace of mind and reduce unnecessary stress.

  3. Use technology wisely: Not every app or tool is a time-saver. Consciously choose which digital tools really help you and which time wasters you can eliminate.

Our offer: Time and self-management as tailor-made solutions

In our time and self-management trainings and coaching  sessions, we accompany you and people in your company in many other techniques and approaches that help you to work dynamically and productively without getting lost in everyday life. This allows you to stay successful together with your team while keeping an eye on your quality of life.

Sounds exciting? Then take your time and talk to us!

Vanessa Daun
Trainer, Coach, Consultant

🚀*5 Key Factors for Appraisal Talks nowadays*

As a provider for leadership training and organisational development, we’ve witnessed how appraisal talks have evolved from formal, yearly check-ins to ongoing conversations that nurture growth, talent, and transformation. In today's dynamic ecosystems, leadership isn’t just about supporting a team member’s individual success—it’s about managing talent effectively and embracing constant change.

 Here are the **5 factors** we've identified that are shaping appraisal talks and talent management across industries:

 🌟 **1. Talent Management is the Backbone of Growth** 

Effective leadership is about recognizing and nurturing talent. Ongoing appraisal talks focus on identifying strengths, aligning them with changing business goals, and supporting employees on their personal growth journey. Leaders are now talent managers, not just performance enablers and evaluators.

 🔄 **2. Continuous Learning is the New Norm** 

In dynamic environments, learning is never over. Leaders encourage a culture where self-driven learning is embraced, ensuring teams stay adaptive and innovative. Appraisal talks are no longer a yearly formality—they are an **ongoing** part of the growth process.

 💡 **3. Navigating Dynamic Ecosystems** 

Industries are rapidly changing, and leaders need to be agile. Successful leadership development focuses on equipping teams to thrive in these fast-moving ecosystems. This means preparing teams to pivot, collaborate, and adapt in real time.

 📊 **4. Authentic Feedback Builds Long-Term Success** 

Leadership today requires giving feedback that fuels growth—not just metrics. Authentic feedback fosters trust and empowers employees to take charge of their development. Frequent, honest feedback loops are critical in dynamic, evolving environments.

🌱 **5. Mutual Development is Essential** 

Gone are the days of one-way growth. Leaders grow alongside their teams, fostering a culture where learning and development are shared responsibilities. Mutual growth ensures that both leaders and their teams remain resilient and ready for future challenges.

 In a specific example, one of our industry clients now focuses on training not only their leaders to be great conversation and navigation partners in appraisals, but also trains all employees on how to prepare and take charge of their own learning journey. Additionally, learning coaches that are located within the business divisions serve as internal go-to-persons who create opportunities for peer learning and on-the-job development plans.

 At CDN we embrace this continuous journey of change within our team of experts and together with our clients. Looking ahead there will many more adaptations in performance and talent management to come and we are looking forward to creating the best possible approaches to empowering leaders and their teams to adapt to dynamic, ever-changing ecosystems.

Get in the driver seat of your development or help your team members prepare for their talent talk. Get our free download Short Prep Guide for easy Appraisal Talks.

 Nicole Hövel
Leadership Trainer | Business Coach

From the diversity of ideas to implementation: Developing together during the CDN Trainer Day

Red, blue, yellow, green, orange, pink - colourful. That was the Trainers' Day 2024 of the Competence Development Network. Colourful due to the diversity of skills and personalities of the network's trainers. Colourful also because of the many vibrant post-its that we filled with valueable content over the course of the day and because of the LEGO® bricks we used to create common understanding and a shared vision.

In addition to regular online meetings, the CDN team meets once a year for a joint trainer day to expand our skills in line with our customers' needs and to continuously develop ourselves further.

This year, we focused on what distinguishes our network and where we make a difference. After creating a model with LEGO® bricks that everyone agreed upon, we moved on to the next step: discovering joint development potential and defining what each individual contributes with their skills and resources so that we can put this potential into practice.

Alongside the joy of co-creating and exchanging ideas, a clear roadmap has been drawn up on how each individual team member will contribute to bringing the developed image to life.

In regular online retrospectives, we now see how the implementation is picking up speed and we continuously align on the next steps.

In addition to working with LEGO® Serious Play® for our internal topics, we also apply this methodology to customer projects. LSP is an excellent tool for giving shape to topics that are currently only prevalent in our heads. Perspectives, ideas, solutions, visions, strategies, and scenarios become visible and tangible with the help of metaphors in the LEGO® models, as do the connections between complex topics that were not apparent before.

Through this tactile, playful process not only explicit knowledge but also implicit insights are activated. This results in coherent, sometimes surprising answers, which are supported by all participants thanks to the alignment and voting integrated into the workshop design.


What about you? Wanna play seriously?


Kira Kerstin Fecher
Strategist | Facilitator | Story Coach