Positive Leadership

“We must continually remind ourselves that our lives and our partners’ and followers’ lives are not problems to be solved. They are callings to be answered, mysteries to be lived.”

Richard Leider

SUCCESS (cause) HAPPINESS (effect)

SUCCESS (effect) HAPPINESS (cause)

Increasing positive emotions leads to:

• Higher creativity

• Increased engagement and motivation

• Higher productivity

• Lower turnover

• Better health

• Improved relationships/teamwork

ocusing On What Works

“The aim of Positive Psychology is to catalyze a change in psychology from a preoccupation only with repairing the worst things in life to also building the best qualities in life.”

Martin Seligman

F

Reframing Questions:The Case of At-Risk Population

Traditional psychology (Post-WWII)▪ “Why do these individuals fail?”

Positive psychology (1980s-)▪ “What makes some individuals succeed despite unfavorable circumstances?”

Learning From What Works

▪ Successful children

▪ Resilience

▪ Superkids?

▪ Ordinary characteristics, extraordinary results– Set future goals– An optimistic outlook– Identifiable role models– Strength focused– Physical exercise

“We see what we look for and we miss much of what we are not looking for even though it is there... Our experience of the world is heavily influenced by where we place our attention.”

Stavros and Torres

“The most serious mistakes are not being made as a result of wrong answers. The truly dangerous thing is asking the wrong question.”

“The most common source of mistakes in management decisions is the emphasis on finding the right answer rather than the right question.”

Sample Questions

1. What am I grateful for?

2. What progress have I made today?

3. What can I appreciate (about other/self/life)?

4. What are my/their strengths?

5. What gives me/them strength?

6. What questions can I ask to create a better relationship/life/organization?

“Traditional approaches to problem solving are, by definition, a way of seeing the world as a glass half empty. The Appreciative Inquiry is an alternative process to bring about organizational change by looking at the glass as half full. Essentially, Appreciative Inquiry varies from other approaches to organizational change in that it builds on what works well.”

Gail Johnson & William Leavitt

Appreciative Inquirydraws on

the best of the pastto inspire the present

and create a better future

Highlighting Success (Schunk & Hanson)

• Poor math performers

• Videotaped while doing math

• Extracting success instances (best of past)

• “Yes you can” (grounded positivity)– Increased self-efficacy– Increased motivation– Improved performance

Incr

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eten

tion

Incre ased P

ro fits

Employee Satisfaction

Enhanced C

re ativit y

Customer Satisfaction

Impr

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Effi

cien

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Work Safety (Fry, 2008)• Recall a time when you felt most safe at work and

tell a story about it.

• Recall a time when you, or someone you work with, did something out of the ordinary to prevent an accident from happening.

• Imagine our Mill was the #1 Safest site in the entire global system: what does it look like; how did we transform to become accident free?

• If you could make one change today to ensure that everyone goes home to their families safe at the end of their shift, what change would you make?

Work Safety (Fry, 2008)Cleveland YTD OSHA Rates

2006 & 2007

0.00

1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

5.00

6.00

7.00

8.00

January February March April May June July August September October November December

2006

2007

43% Improvement

Reframing Questions:The Case of PwC

• Traditional approach– “What causes senior women to defect and

disengage?”– Why do women who are more than good enough

on skill, talent and education not make it? What are the barriers and how do we fix them?

• AI Approach– “What is it that positively distinguishes the women

who do make it to senior roles and are thriving, successful and satisfied? What learnable, buildable capacities do they have?”

Change

"Although studies have shown that real change can result from training, most of the time the change doesn’t seem to be sustained, which is why it is often called the honeymoon effect. Considering that more than 60 billion dollars spent in North America alone on training, this is a sobering observation."

Goleman, Boyatzis, & McKee

Change Is Hard

Reframing Questions:The Case of Change

• Traditional psychology– "Why is change mostly

temporary?"

• Positive psychology– "What do those who enjoy

lasting change do?"

From Self-Discipline to Rituals

"Building rituals requires defining very precise behaviors and performing them at very specific times—motivated by deeply held values."

Loehr & Schwartz

From Self Discipline to Rituals

“Incremental change is better than ambitious failure.... Success feeds on itself.”

Loehr and Schwartz

• Increases productivity and creativity

• 30 days to a new ritual• Introduce one or two rituals

at a time

"On Monday, don’t tell me how great it was; tell me what you’re doing differently."