CASE STORY
Starlight Children’s Foundation
POSITIVITY@STARLIGHT
About Starlight
The Starlight Children’s Foundation Australia is a globally recognised not-for-profit organisation dedicated to supporting the wellbeing and resilience of sick kids, young people, and their families by providing programs designed to bring happiness, fun, and laughter both in hospital and online.
The Challenge
In 2012, as a key strategy to support wellbeing and resilience, there was a commitment made to educate the Starlight People Team in the science of positive psychology. Dr Suzy Green, is a Starlight Ambassador, and an integral supporter of their work. It was the partnership with Dr Green and her team at The Positivity Institute that provided the People & Culture team with education and support.
As a result, in 2013, The Starlight Foundation partnered with The Positivity Institute to develop and embed POSITIVITY@STARLIGHT.
The original objectives were:
- To introduce the principles of positive psychology to the National team to support their wellbeing and resilience
- To support all team members to live a flourishing life and be the best they can be
- To nurture and increase already high levels of engagement
- To equip People Managers with the knowledge, skills and tools to be positive leaders and coaches
Our Solution
From 2013-17, with Dr Green’s prominent insight and influence, The Positivity Institute developed and delivered POSITIVITY@STARLIGHT and Positive Leadership workshops which today remain a vital part of the Starlight onboarding experience.
Understanding the need for organisations to create an internally sustainable culture of wellbeing and resilience, Dr Suzy Green and Senior Associates at The Positivity Institute coached and empowered the People & Culture team to deliver these workshops.
The next stage of engagement focused on Positive Psychology Coaching. For more than a decade coaching had already been a substantial part of the Starlight culture, but with consultation from The Positivity Institute, it has been amplified in recent years.
In 2017, after an initial pilot, The Positivity Institute began providing coaching programs to Starlight team members whenever they were recommended/referred by their People Manager.
Starlight is also heavily invested in professional development to support all of their people managers to use a coaching approach and to have a member of the P&C team able to offer in-house coaching.
Our Results
Outcomes
Starlight proudly recognises that their Positive Psychology programs have:
- Nurtured high levels of engagement and wellbeing which allow them to innovate and continue to enhance the impact of their programs
- Played a vital role in Starlight’s positive culture and contributed to being awarded various external accolades including AON Hewitt Best Employer, BRW Best Place to Work, and AFR Most Innovative Companies list
- Received external recognition and have since been sought out as thought leaders to speak at various forums / events about how positive psychology underpins our programs and culture
Significantly, in 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic started to impact strongly, Starlight realised that whilst they would face many challenges, POSITIVITY@STARLIGHT meant they were “match fit for covid”.
At Starlight Today
POSITIVITY@STARTLIGHT is firmly embedded at a strategic level and underpins every aspect of employee experience.
A strong Positive Psychology Coaching Culture has been established in which all team members can self-nominate for wellbeing coaching.
The Positivity Institute Wellbeing coaching programs complement the in-house coaching that is available and the Starlight EAP program.
Coaching Feedback
Following Wellbeing Coaching Sessions, team members shared:
“I feel more focused, more energised and am making space for my personal health and wellbeing.”
“I just feel like I’m flourishing at the moment. I’m happier in my personal life and feel very engaged with work.”
“I feel much better equipped to manage my own wellbeing goals.”
Testimonials
It is with great pleasure we recommend Dr Suzy Green and The Positivity Institute.
Starlight first engaged with Dr Suzy and The Positivity Institute in 2013 when we were exploring ways to increase our already high levels of engagement and deliver on our Best Self, Best Starlight strategy. At the time we were looking to the field of positive psychology as a potential way of achieving this. After meeting and discussing our Vision, Mission and strategy, we worked with Dr Suzy and her colleagues to develop Positivity@Starlight, a wellbeing initiative based on the science of Positive Psychology. Our goal was to support every team member to be at their best at work, at home and in their community.
Dr Suzy and her team developed workshops to educate team members, starting with the Executive and People Managers before being rolled out nationally to all team members and tailoring these workshops specifically for our Captain Starlight team. The workshops provided education on the principles of positive psychology and practical tools and strategies to benefit our team – both personally and professionally. In addition, coaching was provided to our People & Culture team over a 12-month period so we could build the capability within Starlight to embed the learnings. The workshops were not one-off events and Dr Suzy and her colleagues continue to work with us to educate our people leaders in the field of Positive Leadership and provide one-on-one coaching to team members to support their wellbeing and development.
The learning opportunities provided by Dr Suzy and The Positivity Institute are meaningfully aligned with our mission and the workshops are highly engaging, informative and professional. Our team members rated all workshops and coaching as exceptional positive learning experiences.
Seven years later, positive psychology is well embedded in the Starlight culture. We continue to educate all team members and we have measured the impact of the program. We recognise every day the impact of positivity on our performance, creativity and innovation. Starlight has been awarded in the top 50 Great Places to Work Australia, accredited as an AON Hewitt Best Employer and was awarded #1 Most Innovative Company in the AFR BOSS awards (Government, Education & not-for-profit sector). Much of this is accredited to investment in our positive psychology and our work with The Positivity Institute.
We highly recommend Dr Suzy, and The Positivity Institute, to your organisation and would be more than happy to speak with you.
The Positivity Institute
CELEBRATING 10 YEARS WITH STARLIGHT!
