Positive Leadership: Why it’s crucial for Organizational Change
You’ve witnessed the collective intelligence that can be used in an effective OCAI-workshop or Change Circle in the University Library case I shared. Positive leadership is an enabler for this collective intelligence to emerge...
Why is Positive Leadership important in organizational change? One short anecdote illustrates this clearly (shared by Steve Gladis, the author of Positive Leadership: The Gamechanger at Work.) Steve used to have a boss named Phil. Phil was open, playful, easy and safe to talk to. Then Phil got promoted, and he was replaced by Bill. Bill was a judgmental and distrusting person, and he infected the team: coworkers started to distrust each other, even though they had worked so well together under the positive rule of Phil. Need I say more?
Enlighten your team
As a leader, you directly influence the behaviors of others. “A leader is a person who has an unusual degree of power to project on other people his shadow or his light,” said Palmer Parker. As a coworker, you have a direct effect on those around you, too. As a consultant, coach or other professional: likewise. So, if you need people to open up to change and possibilities, being a Positive Leader is your best way to lead. The research evidence is compelling: applying Positive Leadership makes a difference in productivity, satisfaction, and happiness at work. It also makes it easier to trust, and it becomes safer to open up and change.
Going beyond “the default baseline”
Based on positive psychology, positive leadership departs from an “abundance mindset.” It’s having an open eye for “positive possibilities.” The “normal mindset” aims for the default baseline: "We fix a problem to go back to normal."
Positive leadership aims for positive deviance. “We enjoy the challenge to perform beyond expectations, and we’ll live up to our greatest potential as an organization. We are the best version of ourselves that we can be." Positive leadership tries to stretch what seems possible – but without abusing people. It lifts teams to greater performance and pleasure - but they can choose to contribute more, and they are not forced to do so.
Part of the positive mindset is a permissive, encouraging, empowering basis - without being weak or boundless. Positive leaders are quick to gently correct people who abuse their trust, or whose good intentions lead to negative outcomes. They are gentle and firm. They keep the greater good and the organization in mind. They serve the whole. Positive leadership also means stopping individuals who go too far, wander astray or don’t contribute, in the best interest of everybody else.
Yes - unless
Simply put, it seems the default answer is “yes” followed by “unless”. Example: You can try new things unless you deviate from our shared purpose.
By comparison, conventional leadership prefers the control mindset, and the default answer is “no”, “unless you ask permission in advance, or you can prove that this will be useful”.
The latter is difficult as things develop over time and, especially, if they haven’t been tried before. Change in itself is what you aim for in the future - so you can never be absolutely in control and 100% sure that a particular activity will be useful.
That is why Positive Leadership is necessary for change processes. It helps to envision possibilities that aren’t there yet, to believe them before you can see or prove them, and to trust that the right things will emerge. It enables the team to pull it off with your positive guidance.
What is working well
Positive leadership builds on what is already working well - just like Appreciative Inquiry (developed by David Cooperrider). It values people for their unique contributions. The positive leader trusts people, and they might surprise you in a positive way. This leadership acknowledges good things and actions. It includes leadership basics such as connecting with and caring for people, being authentic and honest, communicating continuously and coaching people as well as stimulating them with compliments - but correcting them if needed. This focus simply empowers people because it increases their energy, their ideas and their ability to open up. Feeling safe, trusted, and positive, people collaborate and change together.
The last thing you want during organizational change is that people close themselves off. You need them to be open, to take in the information, to process it, to contribute their ideas, to muster their energy, and to engage in the action of change. The last thing you want is fear, accusations, not feeling safe and respected. The last thing you want is negative projections from the past: “Things never work around here, and managers are out to get you.”
Open eyes and minds
Your task is to help them open their eyes to the present situation, be mindful of what they observe, and to let go of any negative baggage. Your task is to help people see with fresh, appreciative eyes - and see positive possibilities in the future…
The last thing you want is to tell them what to do (they will close down) or force them (idem). Ask them to participate and let them truly do so. Focus on the energizing things that work well. Be the change you want to see on your team. See their potential and believe that you can pull it off with this team. They will surprise themselves in a positive way if you enable them with positive leadership.
Appreciative Inquiry
Appreciative Inquiry also consciously chooses the focus of what is working well. This approach uses four stages to change, and you can integrate this with your Change Circle or OCAI-workshop:
- Discover: when and where are things okay and working well?
- Dream: what if we extended what is working well to other parts of the organization?
- Design: what will we do now?
- Deliver: how will we do this?
This is not a sweet milk-and-honey approach. It doesn’t mean that you have to become a happy hippie and deny the half-empty glass. It means that you choose to use the power of positive possibilities - and you believe that you can fill the glass again. In the meantime, you’ll be resourceful in your ways to mitigate the discomfort and the side-effects of the half-empty glass, and you’ll work on ways to fill it up, maybe even adding another full glass while you’re at it.
Rooted in reality
That is the positive-leadership-mindset. But it doesn’t mean that you don’t see reality. Of course, you do. You see something extra in addition: its potential.
It doesn’t mean you don’t want to hear criticism, doubts or second thoughts. You do. But you can hear the potential to: the solution may be lurking within the dark of the comment, and the commitment to improve is hiding in criticism.
Positive leadership looks simple, but it's easier said than done. It requires embracing positive possibilities and dealing with your inner critic (and those outside). It requires you to look for potential - even in situations or in employees where you cannot seem to find anything positive…
Want to know more about this powerful new field? Check out my eBook: How to lead Positive Change with Culture and Positive Leadership.
- How can you envision positive possibilities to lead your team or client?
- Have you experienced positive leaders who lifted their organization?
In my next post, I have something exciting to share.... After that, let’s see how you can apply Positive Leadership.
Copyright © Marcella Bremer 2016. All rights reserved.
[summary] => [format] => full_html [safe_value] =>You’ve witnessed the collective intelligence that can be used in an effective OCAI-workshop or Change Circle in the University Library case I shared. Positive leadership is an enabler for this collective intelligence to emerge...
Why is Positive Leadership important in organizational change? One short anecdote illustrates this clearly (shared by Steve Gladis, the author of Positive Leadership: The Gamechanger at Work.) Steve used to have a boss named Phil. Phil was open, playful, easy and safe to talk to. Then Phil got promoted, and he was replaced by Bill. Bill was a judgmental and distrusting person, and he infected the team: coworkers started to distrust each other, even though they had worked so well together under the positive rule of Phil. Need I say more?
Enlighten your team
As a leader, you directly influence the behaviors of others. “A leader is a person who has an unusual degree of power to project on other people his shadow or his light,” said Palmer Parker. As a coworker, you have a direct effect on those around you, too. As a consultant, coach or other professional: likewise. So, if you need people to open up to change and possibilities, being a Positive Leader is your best way to lead. The research evidence is compelling: applying Positive Leadership makes a difference in productivity, satisfaction, and happiness at work. It also makes it easier to trust, and it becomes safer to open up and change.
Going beyond “the default baseline”
Based on positive psychology, positive leadership departs from an “abundance mindset.” It’s having an open eye for “positive possibilities.” The “normal mindset” aims for the default baseline: "We fix a problem to go back to normal."
Positive leadership aims for positive deviance. “We enjoy the challenge to perform beyond expectations, and we’ll live up to our greatest potential as an organization. We are the best version of ourselves that we can be." Positive leadership tries to stretch what seems possible – but without abusing people. It lifts teams to greater performance and pleasure - but they can choose to contribute more, and they are not forced to do so.
Part of the positive mindset is a permissive, encouraging, empowering basis - without being weak or boundless. Positive leaders are quick to gently correct people who abuse their trust, or whose good intentions lead to negative outcomes. They are gentle and firm. They keep the greater good and the organization in mind. They serve the whole. Positive leadership also means stopping individuals who go too far, wander astray or don’t contribute, in the best interest of everybody else.
Yes - unless
Simply put, it seems the default answer is “yes” followed by “unless”. Example: You can try new things unless you deviate from our shared purpose.
By comparison, conventional leadership prefers the control mindset, and the default answer is “no”, “unless you ask permission in advance, or you can prove that this will be useful”.
The latter is difficult as things develop over time and, especially, if they haven’t been tried before. Change in itself is what you aim for in the future - so you can never be absolutely in control and 100% sure that a particular activity will be useful.
That is why Positive Leadership is necessary for change processes. It helps to envision possibilities that aren’t there yet, to believe them before you can see or prove them, and to trust that the right things will emerge. It enables the team to pull it off with your positive guidance.
What is working well
Positive leadership builds on what is already working well - just like Appreciative Inquiry (developed by David Cooperrider). It values people for their unique contributions. The positive leader trusts people, and they might surprise you in a positive way. This leadership acknowledges good things and actions. It includes leadership basics such as connecting with and caring for people, being authentic and honest, communicating continuously and coaching people as well as stimulating them with compliments - but correcting them if needed. This focus simply empowers people because it increases their energy, their ideas and their ability to open up. Feeling safe, trusted, and positive, people collaborate and change together.
The last thing you want during organizational change is that people close themselves off. You need them to be open, to take in the information, to process it, to contribute their ideas, to muster their energy, and to engage in the action of change. The last thing you want is fear, accusations, not feeling safe and respected. The last thing you want is negative projections from the past: “Things never work around here, and managers are out to get you.”
Open eyes and minds
Your task is to help them open their eyes to the present situation, be mindful of what they observe, and to let go of any negative baggage. Your task is to help people see with fresh, appreciative eyes - and see positive possibilities in the future…
The last thing you want is to tell them what to do (they will close down) or force them (idem). Ask them to participate and let them truly do so. Focus on the energizing things that work well. Be the change you want to see on your team. See their potential and believe that you can pull it off with this team. They will surprise themselves in a positive way if you enable them with positive leadership.
Appreciative Inquiry
Appreciative Inquiry also consciously chooses the focus of what is working well. This approach uses four stages to change, and you can integrate this with your Change Circle or OCAI-workshop:
- Discover: when and where are things okay and working well?
- Dream: what if we extended what is working well to other parts of the organization?
- Design: what will we do now?
- Deliver: how will we do this?
This is not a sweet milk-and-honey approach. It doesn’t mean that you have to become a happy hippie and deny the half-empty glass. It means that you choose to use the power of positive possibilities - and you believe that you can fill the glass again. In the meantime, you’ll be resourceful in your ways to mitigate the discomfort and the side-effects of the half-empty glass, and you’ll work on ways to fill it up, maybe even adding another full glass while you’re at it.
Rooted in reality
That is the positive-leadership-mindset. But it doesn’t mean that you don’t see reality. Of course, you do. You see something extra in addition: its potential.
It doesn’t mean you don’t want to hear criticism, doubts or second thoughts. You do. But you can hear the potential to: the solution may be lurking within the dark of the comment, and the commitment to improve is hiding in criticism.
Positive leadership looks simple, but it's easier said than done. It requires embracing positive possibilities and dealing with your inner critic (and those outside). It requires you to look for potential - even in situations or in employees where you cannot seem to find anything positive…
Want to know more about this powerful new field? Check out my eBook: How to lead Positive Change with Culture and Positive Leadership.
- How can you envision positive possibilities to lead your team or client?
- Have you experienced positive leaders who lifted their organization?
In my next post, I have something exciting to share.... After that, let’s see how you can apply Positive Leadership.
Copyright © Marcella Bremer 2016. All rights reserved.
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You’ve witnessed the collective intelligence that can be used in an effective OCAI-workshop or Change Circle in the University Library case I shared. Positive leadership is an enabler for this collective intelligence to emerge...
Why is Positive Leadership important in organizational change? One short anecdote illustrates this clearly (shared by Steve Gladis, the author of Positive Leadership: The Gamechanger at Work.) Steve used to have a boss named Phil. Phil was open, playful, easy and safe to talk to. Then Phil got promoted, and he was replaced by Bill. Bill was a judgmental and distrusting person, and he infected the team: coworkers started to distrust each other, even though they had worked so well together under the positive rule of Phil. Need I say more?
Enlighten your team
As a leader, you directly influence the behaviors of others. “A leader is a person who has an unusual degree of power to project on other people his shadow or his light,” said Palmer Parker. As a coworker, you have a direct effect on those around you, too. As a consultant, coach or other professional: likewise. So, if you need people to open up to change and possibilities, being a Positive Leader is your best way to lead. The research evidence is compelling: applying Positive Leadership makes a difference in productivity, satisfaction, and happiness at work. It also makes it easier to trust, and it becomes safer to open up and change.
Going beyond “the default baseline”
Based on positive psychology, positive leadership departs from an “abundance mindset.” It’s having an open eye for “positive possibilities.” The “normal mindset” aims for the default baseline: "We fix a problem to go back to normal."
Positive leadership aims for positive deviance. “We enjoy the challenge to perform beyond expectations, and we’ll live up to our greatest potential as an organization. We are the best version of ourselves that we can be." Positive leadership tries to stretch what seems possible – but without abusing people. It lifts teams to greater performance and pleasure - but they can choose to contribute more, and they are not forced to do so.
Part of the positive mindset is a permissive, encouraging, empowering basis - without being weak or boundless. Positive leaders are quick to gently correct people who abuse their trust, or whose good intentions lead to negative outcomes. They are gentle and firm. They keep the greater good and the organization in mind. They serve the whole. Positive leadership also means stopping individuals who go too far, wander astray or don’t contribute, in the best interest of everybody else.
Yes - unless
Simply put, it seems the default answer is “yes” followed by “unless”. Example: You can try new things unless you deviate from our shared purpose.
By comparison, conventional leadership prefers the control mindset, and the default answer is “no”, “unless you ask permission in advance, or you can prove that this will be useful”.
The latter is difficult as things develop over time and, especially, if they haven’t been tried before. Change in itself is what you aim for in the future - so you can never be absolutely in control and 100% sure that a particular activity will be useful.
That is why Positive Leadership is necessary for change processes. It helps to envision possibilities that aren’t there yet, to believe them before you can see or prove them, and to trust that the right things will emerge. It enables the team to pull it off with your positive guidance.
What is working well
Positive leadership builds on what is already working well - just like Appreciative Inquiry (developed by David Cooperrider). It values people for their unique contributions. The positive leader trusts people, and they might surprise you in a positive way. This leadership acknowledges good things and actions. It includes leadership basics such as connecting with and caring for people, being authentic and honest, communicating continuously and coaching people as well as stimulating them with compliments - but correcting them if needed. This focus simply empowers people because it increases their energy, their ideas and their ability to open up. Feeling safe, trusted, and positive, people collaborate and change together.
The last thing you want during organizational change is that people close themselves off. You need them to be open, to take in the information, to process it, to contribute their ideas, to muster their energy, and to engage in the action of change. The last thing you want is fear, accusations, not feeling safe and respected. The last thing you want is negative projections from the past: “Things never work around here, and managers are out to get you.”
Open eyes and minds
Your task is to help them open their eyes to the present situation, be mindful of what they observe, and to let go of any negative baggage. Your task is to help people see with fresh, appreciative eyes - and see positive possibilities in the future…
The last thing you want is to tell them what to do (they will close down) or force them (idem). Ask them to participate and let them truly do so. Focus on the energizing things that work well. Be the change you want to see on your team. See their potential and believe that you can pull it off with this team. They will surprise themselves in a positive way if you enable them with positive leadership.
Appreciative Inquiry
Appreciative Inquiry also consciously chooses the focus of what is working well. This approach uses four stages to change, and you can integrate this with your Change Circle or OCAI-workshop:
- Discover: when and where are things okay and working well?
- Dream: what if we extended what is working well to other parts of the organization?
- Design: what will we do now?
- Deliver: how will we do this?
This is not a sweet milk-and-honey approach. It doesn’t mean that you have to become a happy hippie and deny the half-empty glass. It means that you choose to use the power of positive possibilities - and you believe that you can fill the glass again. In the meantime, you’ll be resourceful in your ways to mitigate the discomfort and the side-effects of the half-empty glass, and you’ll work on ways to fill it up, maybe even adding another full glass while you’re at it.
Rooted in reality
That is the positive-leadership-mindset. But it doesn’t mean that you don’t see reality. Of course, you do. You see something extra in addition: its potential.
It doesn’t mean you don’t want to hear criticism, doubts or second thoughts. You do. But you can hear the potential to: the solution may be lurking within the dark of the comment, and the commitment to improve is hiding in criticism.
Positive leadership looks simple, but it's easier said than done. It requires embracing positive possibilities and dealing with your inner critic (and those outside). It requires you to look for potential - even in situations or in employees where you cannot seem to find anything positive…
Want to know more about this powerful new field? Check out my eBook: How to lead Positive Change with Culture and Positive Leadership.
- How can you envision positive possibilities to lead your team or client?
- Have you experienced positive leaders who lifted their organization?
In my next post, I have something exciting to share.... After that, let’s see how you can apply Positive Leadership.
Copyright © Marcella Bremer 2016. All rights reserved.
Comments
Leadership Change for Individuals versus for Groups.
Hi Marcella; You describe many valid thoughts re how events actually occur relative to Positive Leadership for Change. However, I will hold my comments in reserve until, as you say ("In my next post, I have something exciting to share.... After that, let’s see how you(we) can apply Positive Leadership."). And, "after that", I may reveal some of my major concerns. Beforehand, let me provide a small inkling re where I'm at re this subject: "Effectual leadership change resides within persons, and develops uniquely within each individual. To address positivity differently creates the possibility of differentiating (with group value judgements) between different classifications and assemblies of individuals. And, "we all" do not generally drink and like the "same" wine (i.e. have the same tastes for what our individual "sweet disposition"). There are "more proper procedures" for being and becoming judgmental?? IMHO.
nice post
I agree! I also would say that a positive mindset may generate positive toughs which influence positively the people around you in a subconscious level.. nice and thanks for sharing :)
Great article
I totally agree! I've just commented on a post about positive culture and the importance of leaders adopting a positive attitude. I believe that attitude is the filter through which our values and beliefs are processed to determine our behaviours. And it is the collection of individual behaviour that determines culture. Positive leadership therefore needs to be anchored in a positive attitude that endures consistently, whatever the external circumstances and internal feelings.
Good afternoon and thanks for
Good afternoon and thanks for this tenth article.
Trying to answer your question apropos the way I can envision positive possibilities to apply, results dificult to me specify or explain more about it. I think it is all very well explained in your article. What to do, and especially, what not to do.
Shure one of the most important thing is, like you guess in the begining of the email, the importance of feeling positive. This is the starting point to apply correctly all the tips and advices you mentioned. When you feel good , you easily works with a positive feeling and you transmit this feeling to the rest of the team. Becomes a natural feeling that allows you see the positive part of the humans behaviors, helping you to understand and interprete with a positive point of view, all the comments and decisions of your empolyees and managers.
But... what makes you feel good ? When we talk about positive leadership, I usually think in responsible companies. Those who are also looking for the interest of their employess, the environment and the society. This could be a good reason to inspire your positive possibilities, but... the good feelings depend basically from oneself. Try to be the change you want see in the group, although the conditions could be not well enough as you should prefere. This could be the most mentally hard and also important part to achieve.
Fortunately, I have had the lucky of experienced positive leadership, and I remember a sentence of one of my managers said: “ I am like a football team coach. I have to be skilled enought to make you as better player as you can be “. No doubt he is one of my referents.
Yours faithfully
Jordi J.
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