We’ve talked a lot about the positive impacts of psychological capital. But what happens when employees have too much of a good thing?
Psychological capital, often referred to as PsyCap, is comprised of 4 key resources: hope, optimism, resilience, and self-efficacy. These resources can be developed and have been linked to improved well-being, productivity, and goal achievement. However, new research shows that having too much psychological capital can lead to unexpected challenges.
Impact of Engagement and Burnout
Before we dive into the challenges of too much psychological capital, this study did find some interesting impacts of engagement and burnout on your ability to grow these 4 key resources.
The study suggests that work engagement can improve psychological capital. When we’re deeply engaged in our tasks, our levels of hope, resilience, optimism, and self-efficacy soar, empowering us to overcome obstacles and achieve our goals. However, the opposite is true with burnout. Burnout can swiftly stop our growth of psychological capital. When we are experiencing high levels of burnout, it can erode our ability to feel optimistic, confident, hopeful, and resilient.
Clearly, we know that reducing burnout and increasing engagement is a good thing. But what happens when that leads to too much psychological capital? Unfortunately, too much of a good thing may apply here.
Challenges with Too Much Psychological Capital
This new research shows an overabundance of psychological capital can sometimes lead us astray. They found that having very high psychological capital actually leads to declines in engagement. While, we need more research to find out the reasons why, the researchers did have a few theories.
First, they hinted at this idea of an optimism bias. Basically, when people are too optimistic, they are likely to take more risks that are not helpful at work. They believe that things will generally work out for them, so why not? However, with optimism, you do need a bit of realism to ensure you are not going down unnecessary risky paths. Thus, it’s possible that those with high psychological capital are taking careless risks that lead to more work down the road.
Second, the researchers suggested that those high in self-efficacy may actually create more work for themselves. They may set too high and unrealistic expectations for the amount of work and the types of goals they can accomplish. Thus, this can lead to overwork and burnout through having too high of an opinion of themselves and their abilities.
What else can be causing this? One day, research will tell us. But for now, you can listen to our episode to hear our additional theories!
What Can You Do?
While it’s important to grow psychological capital, how can you know if you’ve crossed the threshold into too much?
First, leaders can ensure they are monitoring their employees’ engagement levels. Is someone suddenly becoming less engaged? Are they a confident top performer? These could be signs that the person is crossing into an unrealistic level of psychological capital. It might be worth taking some time to understand what’s going on with that person. Are they taking on too much? Have you noticed an excessive amount of risk taking? Help bring them back to reality by coaching them on when it’s appropriate to take risks. Also, encourage them to say no to projects to keep a manageable workload. Let them know you also know they can do this work well but their well-being is important too!
Finally, individually, what can you do? We would also recommend checking in with yourself. Are you feeling less engaged all of a sudden? Why? Are you taking a lot of risks that lead to more work? Are you taking on too many projects? Practice some self-awareness! And if you need help to get a bit more grounded, reach out. Others can help you see what risks are not worth it and when you may have too much work on your plate.
All that being said, do not forget that psychological capital is hugely beneficial. It’s not likely that you are on the high, extreme end of the scale. It’s just always good to be aware that, sometimes, too much is not good.
(Interestingly, Katina is also working on research around how too much hope – a component of psychological capital – isn’t always great. To get a sneak peek, listen to our episode.)
