About Us
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Positive Work Ways® exists to challenge a simple but costly assumption:
That workplace problems are caused by broken people — rather than poorly designed systems.
We work with organisations to understand how behaviour, performance, communication, and culture are shaped by brain state — and how everyday leadership, language, and systems quietly push people into survival mode, or keep them thinking clearly, collaboratively, and constructively.
This is not a wellbeing programme.
And it is not another leadership model.
It's a brain-based framework for understanding how work actually works — biologically, psychologically, and systemically.
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Our Perspective:
Most organisational change efforts focus on what people should do differently.
Positive Work Ways® focuses on what state the system keeps people in while they’re trying to do it.
When pressure, ambiguity, poor communication, and misaligned systems accumulate, people don’t fail because they lack resilience or skill. They struggle because their brains are operating in protection mode — narrowing thinking, increasing reactivity, and reducing access to insight, creativity, and learning.
Culture, in this sense, is not a set of values or behaviours.
It is a collective brain state.
And once you understand that, change becomes both more humane and more effective.
Understanding state explains why people struggle. Our approach focuses on what to do about it.
Our Approach:
Positive Work Ways® brings together:
- neuroscience-informed understanding of brain state
- solutions-focused techniques
- positive psychology thinking
- organisational systems insight
to help leaders and organisations work with the brain, rather than against it.
We translate complex psychological and neurological principles into practical, usable tools that apply across:
- leadership behaviour
- communication and language
- decision-making
- policy and process design
- learning, development, and change
- psychosocial risk and organisational safety
The result is not quick fixes or surface-level culture initiatives — but sustainable shifts in how work is experienced, led, and structured.
About Louise
Positive Work Ways® was founded by Louise Thomas, whose work sits at the intersection of lived experience, organisational practice, and neuroscience-informed psychology.
Louise brings together:
- senior experience across HR, quality management, and occupational safety
- an MSc in Psychology and Neuroscience of Mental Health (King’s College London)
- solutions-focused therapeutic practice
- deep expertise in workplace wellbeing, leadership, and systems change
Her work is shaped by a clear through-line:
People are rarely the problem.
Systems that keep people in survival mode are.
Louise is known for challenging conventional narratives around resilience, wellbeing, and performance — replacing them with a grounded, biologically informed understanding of how pressure, leadership, and system design shape behaviour at work.
Why Positive Work Ways®
Organisations often invest heavily in leadership development, wellbeing initiatives, and culture programmes — yet see limited, short-lived change.
Positive Work Ways® addresses the missing piece.
We help organisations:
- understand why good people struggle under certain conditions
- reduce psychosocial risk at source, rather than managing symptoms
- improve decision quality, communication, and collaboration
- create conditions where performance is sustainable, not extractive
- move beyond “fixing people” toward designing healthier systems
This work supports performance, safety, engagement, and resilience — not as separate agendas, but as outcomes of the same underlying conditions.
Our Commitment
Positive Work Ways® works with organisations that are ready to look beneath surface behaviours and address the real drivers of culture and performance.
That means working thoughtfully, at depth, and with respect for the complexity of human systems.
If you’re ready to explore what becomes possible when work is designed to support clear thinking rather than constant survival, you’re in the right place.