Positive leadership involves experiencing, modelling, and purposefully enhancing positive emotions. A positive leader is interested in his or her employees' development as well as the bottom line. High self-awareness, optimism, and personal integrity (Avolio & Gardner, 2005).
Positive and optimistic leaders find solutions when problems arise, as they believe their is always something that can be done, a solution, and are naturally creative and resourceful. It leads to an inner confidence that enable better decision making. When doubt is removed and negative self-talk banished, they think clearly and turn down the chatter in their heads. They have presence, confidence and integrity and are able to remove the ego and talk openly and freely about their thoughts, feelings and ideas.
This in turn, influences the way they lead others. They do this by creating positive working environments.
Positive leadership
How leaders create positive working enviroments
Positive Relationships
Focus on the power of relationships, collaboration, mentoring, and coaching. They encourage open conversations and healthy conflict around ideas and solutions, with empathy - adult to adult relationships. If relationships break down, leaders try to find a way to open communication and move forward together.
Positive Communication
Where there is an abundance of poitive news, people feel better, more motivated and in flow. That's not to say, ignore the negative news, but ensure there is always a positive message to accompany it. Postive affirmation, feedback and supportive communication grounded in listening is critcal.
Positive Purpose
Leaders focus on the meaning behind a decision, task or project. They share the vision and the WHY behind their requests. When we understand the purpose, and buy into it, it aligns and unifies everyone around a common cause. It creates a sense of belonging and energises our internal motivators.
When leaders display positive emotions, others take their lead. Leaders don't sit in their ivory towers, waiting for the good times to roll on - they take action. Their radar is constantly tuned in to positive actions and behaviours. They notice when people contribute great ideas, do great work and take initiative. They recognise them, praise them and signal that this is "how things are done around here". Rather than focusing on everything that is going wrong (which they know), they choose to focus on what is going right.
A case study
Des was a glass half full kind of boss. Before entering his office, he walked through the production area. He noticed who wasn't working. He saw the rubbish bins full and assumed they hadn't been cleared from the shift before. He saw colleagues laughing and joking with each other and became frustrated that they weren't working hard.
Mark, walked through and saw something different. He saw empty work stations and asked if the colleague was OK. He hoped they weren't ill. He saw the rubbish bins and understood that people had been working so hard that they had filled them up so early. He immediately wandered how he might help reduce the rubbish, and the burden of clearing it. When he saw people joking, he smiled. He was glad that they had such good working relationships.
In the monthly meetings Des was constantly criticising - everything. He pointed out the issues, threw up every problem and pointed fingers. Everyone else rolled their eyes as the atmosphere quickly changed from positive and welcoming to hostile and combative. Mark, the leader had to do something and chose to focus on creating positive relationships, developing positive communication and reaffirming the purpose. Every time Des brought up a negative, Mark thanked him and shared a positive and a different perspective. Over time, the behaviours changed and so did the teams performance.
Positive leaders proactively increase the flow of positive emotions within their organisation. They choose to do, partly because they are optimists, but also because they know that it leads to a measurable increase in performance. Studies show that leaders who share positive emotions have workgroups with:
- A more positive mood
- Enhanced job satisfaction and engagement
- A greater sense of teamwork and collaboration
- Improved performance
- Greater accountability and ownership
Reflection
Reflect on how you communicate with your team or organisation.
Do you lead with purpose and vision?
Do you look for the positives and share your passion towards achieving outcomes?
How do you foster positive relationships within your organisation?
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