Positive Leadership

8 Key excerpts on "Positive Leadership"

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  eBook - ePub

  Scientific Advances in Positive Psychology

  • Meg A. Warren, Stewart I. Donaldson, Meg A. Warren, Stewart I. Donaldson(Authors)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Praeger

    (Publisher)

  Organizational culture is an important context that facilitates employee well-being. For instance, an ethical organizational culture predicts high levels of well-being, whereas unethical culture predicts cynicism and low levels of well-being (Huhtala, Kaptein, & Feldt, 2016). Recent studies show that poor relationships and incivility negatively predict employee well-being (Lim, Cortina, & Magley, 2008; Paulin & Griffin, 2016). On the other hand, positive work relationships (Santos, Hayward, & Ramos, 2012) and organizational citizenship behaviors directed to other employees (Kumar, Jauhari, & Singh, 2016) are positively associated with employee well-being. Similarly, a recent study of Swedish auditors found that organizational cultures that emphasized relationships predicted higher job satisfaction, life balance, and life satisfaction (Umans, Broberg, Schmidt, Nilsson, & Olsson, 2016). Further, managerial support and supportive work-home culture that facilitates flexible practices and family-friendly initiatives also predict well-being, particularly for women (Beauregard, 2011). Thus, recent research suggests that cultivating positive work relationships is key to fostering employee well-being.

  Positive Leadership

  Leadership theory and research have received considerable attention in management, organizational behavior, and organizational psychology through the years. Although considerable scholarship has been devoted to leadership traits, skills, styles, approaches, development, and contexts, the POB perspective has offered some additive contributions, especially to authentic leadership, and indirectly to transformational leadership, servant leadership, ethical leadership, and spiritual leadership. Positive Leadership is an umbrella term that encompasses these various types of leadership styles and theories that are aligned with positive work and organizations. Youssef-Morgan and Luthans (2013) recently defined Positive Leadership as “the systematic and integrated manifestation of leadership traits, processes, intentional behaviors and performance outcomes that are elevating, exceptional and affirmative of the strengths, capabilities and developmental potential of leaders, their followers and their organizations over time and across contexts” (p. 201). In doing so, they build on the extant leadership literature of traits, states, and situational factors by focusing on both trait-like strengths and positive state-like psychological resources while taking context into account. As such, this concept of Positive Leadership serves as a term that encompasses elements of both psychological capital (Luthans et al., 2015) and authentic leadership (Avolio & Luthans, 2006; Luthans & Avolio, 2003), as well as more traditional transformational leadership. Positive Leadership approaches have also been theorized to be relevant to a global context and to engage organizational leadership practice across cultures (Youssef & Luthans, 2012; Youssef-Morgan & Luthans, 2013a). A deeper examination of authentic leadership perhaps best represents how positivity can play an important role in leading today’s organizations.

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  eBook - ePub

  Positive Psychology Coaching in Practice

  • Suzy Green, Stephen Palmer, Suzy Green, Stephen Palmer(Authors)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Positive Leadership. Facing the challenges of global competition, mechanistic approaches to development of organisations have their limitations. To overcome these limitations, organisations must identify and nurture new sources of creativity, autonomy and initiative in their teams. This can be achieved by placing the thinking and feeling capacity of being human at the centre of the value creation process, so that companies can regain room to manoeuvre and reduce pressure on their employees.

  Positive Leadership has been extensively researched by Cameron (2008) and elaborated on as a study of what elevates individuals and organisations (in addition to what challenges them), what goes right in organisations (in addition to what goes wrong), what is life-giving (in addition to what is problematic or life-depleting), what is experienced as good (in addition to what is objectionable), what is extraordinary (in addition to what is merely effective) and what is inspiring (in addition to what is difficult or arduous). Cameron (2008) described four strategies that enable Positive Leadership: positive climate, positive relationships, positive communication and positive meaning.

  Furthermore, the notion of inclusive leadership

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  Servant Leadership and Followership

  Examining the Impact on Workplace Behavior

  • Crystal J. Davis(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  In contrast to the alienated condition that results from the lack of both meaning in and at work, employees may experience a state of transcendence in which both elements of meaning are present (Pratt & Ashworth, 2003). When both the organizational purpose and the indi- vidual employee’s role are perceived as meaningful, the employee will sense a connection to something greater than self. In this state of tran- scendence, employees also experience an integration of the various aspects J.L. Whittington 57 of self into a roughly coherent system that fosters the realization of their own aspirations and potential (Pratt & Ashworth, 2003). Leading to Create Positive Organizations Leaders play a crucial role in creating positive organizations (Cameron, 2012; Schein, 2010). Leaders set the tone for the values and behaviors that are expected in the organization. They create clear boundaries for employee attitudes and behaviors by identifying desired performance outcomes, as well as unacceptable behaviors (Cloud, 2013). Within these boundaries, positive leaders then seek to use their position power and resources to remove obstacles and assist employees in meeting their per- formance objectives. Leaders have an extraordinary degree of impact on the creation and maintenance of organizational climates (Schein, 2010). Beyond clarify- ing expectations, positive leaders “enable positively deviant performance, foster an affirmative orientation in organizations, and engender a focus on virtuousness” (Cameron, 2012, p. 1). By emphasizing positive deviance, these leaders are seeking to help individuals and organizations achieve extraordinary levels of performance “that depart from the norm of a refer- ence group in honorable ways” (Spreitzer & Sonenshein, 2004, p. 209). Positive leaders operate from an affirmative orientation, and they are intentional about creating environments where people can flourish.

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  Positive Organizational Psychology Interventions

  Design and Evaluation

  • Stewart I. Donaldson, Christopher Chen, Stewart I. Donaldson, Christopher Chen(Authors)
  • 2021(Publication Date)
  • Wiley-Blackwell

    (Publisher)

  Building PsyCap and creating high-quality connections are two methods in Positive Leadership that will increase productivity and employee well-being (Dutton, 2003; Warren et al., 2017). Positive leaders can build the phycological capital necessary for improving emotional and mental health through intentional actions that build their follower’s hope, efficacy, resilience, and optimism in the workplace (Warren et al., 2017). Positive leaders can also create high-quality connections or meaningful relationships among employees by embedding relationship-building practices into the cultural DNA and organizational systems and structures (Dutton, 2003). Cameron (2012) stated that Positive Leadership diverts an organization’s attention away from what is going wrong to what is going right to harness the power of positivity and create a thriving organization that allows its members to flourish. It emphasizes what elevates and inspires individuals in addition to what is challenging or problematic (Cameron, 2012), circumventing what Cooperrider and Godwin (2012) call the 80/20 trap. Positive psychology helps organizations leverage 20% of their strengths instead of obsessing about 80% of their weaknesses.

  Positive psychology approaches have been gaining popularity with organizations in the last few decades and there is considerable research on its benefits. Desired outcomes of authentic leadership are psychological well-being and empowerment for employees, which leads to increased performance for the organization (Gardner & Carlson, 2015). Warren et al. (2017) corroborates this in their recent literature review on positive psychology; employee well-being predicts job performance and psychological well-being is a stronger predictor of job performance than job satisfaction. It was also found that PsyCap is a significant predictor of desired attitudes (such as organizational commitment and psychological well-being), behaviors (such as organizational citizenship), and self-rated and supervisor-rated performance. Finally, high-quality relationships are linked with outcomes that foster individual and team flourishing such as greater psychological safety (Warren et al., 2017). These outcomes are evidence of how positive leaders can enable extraordinary performance and improve the quality of work life.

  Support

  Lastly, the support from mentors, coaches, supervisors, coworkers, or family members is critical to the developmental success of a strong and effective leader. “Support is a key factor for leaders in maintaining their motivation to learn and grow. It helps engender a sense of self-efficacy about learning, a belief that one can learn, grow, and change” (Van Velsor et al., 2010, p. 13). Van Velsor et al. (2010) stated that support in the form of coaching and mentoring provides an important source of feedback on how to improve behavior and increase competencies through familiar and trusted sources that foster a safe and supportive learning environment. Other benefits of coaching and mentoring are path–goal clarity, values clarity, increased knowledge, skills and abilities, more opportunities to exercise those skills through the coach’s or mentor’s network, and an understanding of organization-specific politics that may hinder individual or organizational success (Gentry & Walsh, 2015). Planned change for a leader development intervention that includes ACS has a high chance of creating positive and lasting outcomes (Van Velsor et al., 2010).

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  Positive Leadership

  The Management Revolution

  • Ruth Seliger(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Schäffer-Poeschel

    (Publisher)

  Professional communication is different from “everyday communication” in that your behaviour must always be reflective. In everyday communication, we primarily intend to express something and ourselves, i.e. share our internal images with another person. Of course, we want our opinions to be heard and even confirmed.

  In professional communication, on the other hand, our own communicative behaviour should be considered an intervention: it is a measure taken for the purpose of specific results. It does not aim to provide emotional relief or satisfy one’s need to communicate.

  Professional communication should therefore be underpinned by a range of questions that are processed before or during the communicative process. The following questions are helpful:

  • Regardless of communicative content, which behaviour on my part normally causes positive, productive energy in my employees?

  • Which behaviour on the part of my employees causes positive, productive energy in me and the team?

  • What do I wish to achieve or initiate through my behaviour?

  • How can I adjust my language, body language, and communicative contents in order to handle difficult topics in an appreciative way?

  • Which (temporal, spatial, personal) conditions are helpful for generating good energy?

  7.3 Mobilising energy: provide meaning!

  Positive Leadership is an approach to leadership that is guided by principles. These principles can only take effect, however, if they become a part of your everyday leadership practice.

  Excerpt from a Deloitte newsletter dated January 2013:

  Last year, the New York Times published a termination notice by a Goldman Sachs employee, who wrote: “As soon as I could not look my prospective employees in the eyes any more while I raved about the great workplace awaiting them here, I knew it was time to leave.”

  He describes a phenomenon that has emerged over the past few years: for many talented people, the notion of an ideal workplace has changed. They are no longer looking for a well-paid job only; instead, they want meaningful work – although a decent salary does not hurt, of course.

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  Positive Psychology in Practice

  Promoting Human Flourishing in Work, Health, Education, and Everyday Life

  • Stephen Joseph(Author)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  Positive psychology offers organizational approaches and processes for building positive, productive, and sustainable organizational environments. It offers guidance on how to bring out the best in people in a way that will benefit them and the organization. Positive psychology has the research, the theory, and the tools to support those who want to create workplaces where people thrive. Combined with the practical experience embodied in organizational psychology, a new strand of practice may emerge that is better-suited to the work conditions of the 21st century: a potentially fruitful liaison indeed.

  Summary Points

  • The relevance of organizational psychology and its practical application through organizational development to organizations in the 21st century has recently been called into question.
  • Positive psychology, with its emphasis on human and organizational flourishing, may offer a way to increase the relevance of organizational psychology to the challenges of today.
  • Many key positive psychology concepts, such as flow, strengths, positivity, and high-quality relationships, offer new approaches to organizational challenges such as motivation, performance, and decision making.
  • Many positive organizational psychology resources now exist, such as appreciative inquiry and strengths psychometrics.
  • Thinking of organizations more as economies of strengths and less as fixed-role hierarchies may help us release the potential of positive psychology in organizations.
  • Leadership is an activity that takes place in a moral and ethical space and therefore must be given special attention if the true potential of positive psychology for the workplace is to be realized.

  References

  1. Achor, S. (2011). The happiness advantage: The seven principles that fuel success at work. London, England: Virgin Books.
  2. Avolio, B., Griffith, J., Wernsing, T. S., & Walumbwa, F. O. (2010). What is authentic leadership development? In P. A. Linley, A. S. Harrington, & N. Garcea (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of positive psychology and work (pp. 39–52). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
  3. Baker, W., Cross, R., & Wooten, M. (2003). Positive organisational network analysis and energizing relationships. In K. Cameron, J. Dutton, & R. Quinn (Eds.), Positive organizational scholarship

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  Leading to Occupational Health and Safety

  How Leadership Behaviours Impact Organizational Safety and Well-Being

  • E. Kevin Kelloway, Karina Nielsen, Jennifer K. Dimoff, E. Kevin Kelloway, Karina Nielsen, Jennifer K. Dimoff(Authors)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Wiley-Blackwell

    (Publisher)

  11 Developing Positive Leadership for Employee Well‐Being and Engagement

  Emma Donaldson‐Feilder and Rachel Lewis

  This chapter aims to present a body of research by the authors of the chapter on Positive Leadership, that is, leadership that is aimed at positively enhancing both employee well‐being and engagement. The chapter will highlight the importance of this focus, with a review of the literature linking leadership and employee health, well‐being and engagement. The authors will then present the results of a research programme aimed initially at identifying those management behaviours necessary for enhancing employee health, well‐being and engagement, and then research aimed at addressing the question of whether Positive Leadership can be developed. The chapter will conclude with evidence from a research programme identifying the success factors associated with developing leadership for employee health, well‐being and engagement.

  Links Between Leadership and Employee Well‐Being and Engagement

  Leadership and Employee Well‐Being

  Since 2006, the literature exploring the link between leadership and employee well‐being has grown dramatically and the consistent message is that the way employees are managed is a key determinant of their well‐being (e.g. Kelloway & Barling, 2010; Skakon, Nielsen, Borg & Guzman, 2010).

  The academic literature has explored links between well‐being and a range of existing leadership models. These leadership models can be categorized into four clusters: transformational and transactional leadership behaviours; negative leadership behaviours; supportive behaviours; and task‐ and relationship‐focused behaviours (Donaldson‐Feilder, Munir & Lewis, 2013). There is also a group of studies using other leadership and management indices. These four clusters are explored briefly in the paragraphs below.

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  Positive Psychology in Business Ethics and Corporate Responsibility

  • Robert A. Giacalone, Carole L. Jurkiewicz, Craig Dunn(Authors)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Information Age Publishing

    (Publisher)

  Companies and their leaders arguably need a positive and aspirational vision of what it means to be a leading corporate citizen, just as people need inspiration, role models, exemplars, and personal aspirations that inspire achievement, creativity, and personal integrity. This is what a con-cept of positive corporate citizenship could provide, a way or path for-ward, not to perfection but to a journey that speaks of foundational values, respect for stakeholders and nature, mutuality and engagement, and active involvement in working for the common good—as defined by 26 S. WADDOCK those who share in that good, not just individual or company gain at the expense of others. As the special issue of American Psychologist on positive psychology high-lights, several characteristics describe about what is currently known about individual level positive psychology (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). First, is a focus on happiness, optimism, subjective well-being, and self-determination, instead of unhappiness, pessimism, and subjective negativ-ity. The second thread is that positive psychology emphasizes “human beings as self-organizing, self-directive, adaptive entities,’ while the third is the recognition of the important role of social context in human happiness and well-being (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000, p. 93). Topics related to positive psychology include relational as well as individual strengths, including the emphasis of development of wisdom, which combines indi-vidual strengths with a sense of collective good (Aspinwall & Staudinger, 2003), suggesting a link for positive psychology to levels of analysis beyond individual, including group, community, and organization. Positive psychology deliberately turns attention away from the almost exclusive study by psychologists of mental illness toward the study of men-tal health at the individual level.

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