Positive Psychology Driven Culture: Real-World Results

By Christy Theobald & Caroline Brown.

Many organisations seek to protect a strong company culture in the face of rapid growth and market changes. At AtkinsRéalis, a world-class engineering services and nuclear company, their Nuclear EMEA team recognised that their culture was already special and needed to continue evolving during their rapid transformation and growth. They took a unique approach, applying positive psychology to enhance a strong organisational culture where everybody belongs.  

A Strengths-Based Approach  

Central to the approach was a shift to a strengths-based way of working, supported by a scalable framework and senior sponsorship. Growing evidence reflects that recognising and developing strengths delivers higher returns on investment compared to developing weaknesses. Within this framework, strengths go beyond competency – they reflect the direct link between how people feel and how they perform, helping people leverage strengths that energise them, leading to sustainable good performance.

Caroline Brown, Behaviour and Culture Director at AtkinsRéalis, and Emily Hutchinson, a Chartered Occupational Psychologist rolled out this new strengths approach across the Nuclear EMEA business alongside Appreciative Inquiry. Their long‑term collaboration culminated in Emily and Caroline publishing a best‑selling book The Strengths-Based Organization, exploring how to boost inclusivity, wellbeing, and performance through a strengths-based approach.  

With rapid growth came the need to nurture an environment where people could thrive, helping retain talent and grow the business sustainably. To help identify and articulate strengths, Cappfinity’s Strengths Profile is used: a naturally inclusive tool that reinforces the fact that all people are unique individuals, rather than categorised into groups.  

Strengths‑spotting is encouraged across the business by noticing how individuals and those around them feel when using different strengths. For example, when someone speaks about or uses their strengths, they may use richer descriptions with an uplifted tone and more open and expressive body language. Conversely, discussing or using weaknesses may result in a flatter tone and more tension. Importantly, the focus is on noticing and celebrating changes within individuals, rather than between them – reflecting diverse emotional ranges and appreciating the subtle changes in some people. Through this approach, people are actively encouraged to use their strengths more and weaknesses less.

Scaling the Approach Through Internal Facilitators 

As demand grew, it became clear that a scalable model was needed without losing quality or authenticity. The solution was the creation of a Behaviour and Culture Facilitator (BCF) community, an internal network of engineers and professionals trained and accredited in the Strengths Profile tool. These facilitators now deliver cultural leadership, strengths-based coaching, and facilitation of Appreciative Inquiry and Strengths-Purpose workshops for colleagues and clients. 

In 2025, these workshops reached nearly 1,500 people, and 85% of participants said they intended to do something new or differently as a result of attending. Additionally, 97% of participants gained new insight from their Strengths Profile debrief, and 100% would recommend it to others. 

Foundations of Psychological Safety  

Underpinning this is a sustained focus on psychological safety, coined by Professor Amy Edmondson in 1999. It focuses on the need for a safe environment where all feel able to express different perspectives, share tentative thoughts, question and challenge ideas, and listen to different views. 

This need for psychological safety is particularly acute in safety-critical, highly regulated environments such as the nuclear industry, where the ability to question, share, and challenge underpins operational safety and risk management as well as performance and wellbeing. Professor Edmondson was welcomed by AtkinsRéalis’ global Operational Leadership Group to embed this into business operations, to ensure all employees feel able to speak up, challenge, and learn together. Alongside this, they developed the Changing Conversations toolkit for all employees, offering practical guidance to help create psychologically safe interactions while integrating positive psychology principles. 

Nuclear EMEA introduced Culture Onboarding covering psychological safety for all new starters, ensuring that everyone – regardless of grade or role – joins the organisation knowing their voice matters, their views are valued, and that it is ok to disagree and bring a different perspective. To further foster inclusion, openness, and communication, they also share leadership expert Ronnie Kinsey’s nine tips for creating psychological safety in teams. These include encouraging diverse voices, ensuring quieter team members are heard, and starting with trust by sharing a personal story or a mistake – emphasising that vulnerability and authenticity strengthen culture. 

Evolving Our Culture 

The belief that everyone impacts their culture underpins their Evolving Our Culture initiative – an annual intervention based on positive psychology principles. Together, they explore what they appreciate about their culture now, how they can evolve their culture, what energises them and what they value, as well as co-creating what their future culture could look and feel like, and how they can make this happen together. 

They recognise that culture is not static; it evolves as they do. That is why they bring their culture initiatives together under their Leading Our Culture umbrella, reinforcing that everyone – regardless of grade, role, or length of service – shapes their culture every day.

By being intentional about the way they lead their culture and staying grounded in positive psychology, strengths, and psychological safety, they can create the culture they want and need as a business, supporting an energising workplace and a thriving nuclear industry. 

About the Authors 

Christy Theobald is a Project Manager, Behaviour and Culture Facilitator, and accredited Strengths Profile Practitioner at AtkinsRéalis Nuclear EMEA. Christy manages various projects with a focus on Business Psychology, business change, behaviours, and culture, as well as providing individual strengths-based review sessions and group workshop facilitation. Christy also holds an undergraduate degree in Psychology and Postgraduate Diploma in Mental Health Science. 

Caroline Brown is the Director of Behaviour and Culture for the Nuclear EMEA business at AtkinsRéalis. She is a Senior Coach Practitioner, facilitator and change advocate with a technical foundation as a Chartered Mechanical Engineer and Business Leader. Alongside her career with AtkinsRéalis, Caroline has also co-created, delivered, and coached for Apply Psychology, providing individual and team coaching, and leadership development for clients across a range of industry sectors. Working alongside Emily Hutchinson, a Chartered Occupational Psychologist, led them to co-author an Amazon best-seller, The Strengths-Based Organization, published April 2021. 

References 

Hutchinson, E., & Brown, C. (2021). The strengths-based organization: How to boost inclusivity, wellbeing and performance. Practical Inspiration Publishing. 

Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction. American Psychologist, 55(1), 5–14. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.5

Rath, T., & Conchie, B. (2008). Strengths-based leadership: Great leaders, teams, and why people follow. Gallup Press. 

Flade, P., Asplund, J., & Elliot, G. (2015, October 8). Employees who use their strengths outperform those who don’t [PDF]. Gallup. https://www.nj.gov/highereducation/documents/pdf/internship_grant_program/EmployeesWhoUseTheirStrengthsOutperform.pdf 

Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350–383. https://doi.org/10.2307/2666999  

Kinsey, R. H. (2023). The unspoken rule of the world's best teams: Psychological safety is a game-changer [LinkedIn post]. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ronniekinseymba_the-unspoken-rule-of-the-worlds-best-teams-activity-7124001630022176768-CIm0