Epilogue and Looking Forward
This book brings together respected thought leaders in positive organizational scholarship (POS) to share their best bets on how to become a positive leader. Each bet, or what we term a seed, is backed by scientific evidence and brought to life through stories of real organizations or leaders using these seeds. This collection of seeds reveals the different ways POS opens up new lines of sight for leaders to engage in practices fostering expanding possibilities for excellence.1 These new lines of sight are critical, yet often dismissed, as “soft” and “inconsequential.” Nothing could be further from the truth, as new lines of sight are critical. They help generate new possibilities for bringing out the best in people and in systems, and for changing trajectories for excellence in the future.
Let us make the potential impact of positive leadership more concrete. Consider the impact of positive leadership in a large organization undergoing a significant change. This organization has a history of being bureaucratic, but also of taking care of its people. With a mandate to do more with less and an external environment of scarcity, the organization aimed to enhance efficiency and reduce costs by centralizing certain organizational functions. This mandate would not only relocate some employees to different parts of the organization, it would also eliminate employees in a setting where large-scale layoffs were quite uncommon. E-mails were sent throughout the organization, explaining the change. Senior leadership sought to do no harm in implementing the change to create a more efficient structure. Because the organization was large, the communication plans called for using mass e-mails to describe the changes in the organization’s structure and the elimination of employee positions. The initial e-mail introducing these changes to the community was scheduled for a Friday evening delivery, which provided no time for processing what it meant before the weekend. The tone of these e-mails was carefully descriptive of the changes, but did not provide any detail about services available to affected employees. However, leaders in one of the organization’s units deployed a distinctly different approach that employed several positive leadership practices.
Leaders in the “deviant” unit articulated overarching goals for the change, including creating a supportive environment for everyone affected by the change. They used the change as an opportunity to perform the work of the organization more effectively, not only more efficiently; to strengthen connections between people; and to cultivate pride in the organization during the process. These overarching goals helped shape and guide conversations at all levels, providing a focus on the benefits to be gained from the change rather than on the inherent losses. The change process used extensive face-to-face communication, building higher-quality connections between all members of the unit. E-mails were only relied upon to announce meetings and indicate, in a general way, that the unit was going to take a different approach to implementing change. These communication moves worked, fostering respect and trust, enabling work performance during the change. Unit leaders also engaged in a continuous process of seeking solutions from the employees themselves, treating them as resources—not resisters—even though several employees’ jobs could be eliminated. Leaders at multiple levels encouraged employees to provide input about ways to craft and to rearrange their work to foster collaboration and fully use people’s strengths. Unit members began to think of themselves as a group, filled with competent and caring individuals, and people worked toward this positive identity.
Leaders sought to cultivate hope and reconnect members to the organization’s higher purpose, emphasizing the organization’s contributions to society and affirming each employee’s role in making this purpose a reality. Through this composite of positive leader strategies, people throughout the unit saw new potential and strengths in the individuals and in the system. The quality of the relationships between people improved, building capacity for future collaboration, trust, and engagement. Energy levels expanded, rather than contracted, and people reported learning and growing despite the press for organizational contraction. Innovative solutions emerged, through new pools for accessing talent and new processes for providing career services. Leaders saw their individual and organizational capacities for excellence expand in a few short weeks. Not only was a crisis averted, but as one employee said, “We used this crisis as an opportunity to become a better version of ourselves.” Taking this route meant respectfully deviating from the master organizational plan while maintaining good relationships with the individuals who constructed the plan. The positive leader made it a priority to still function effectively within the larger environment while implementing the change with a different set of practices.
Core Insights about Positive Leadership
Positive leaders understand there are always relationships to strengthen, resources to unlock, good to tap, and change processes to engage that enhance, rather than diminish, future possibilities for excellence. Positive leaders know that seemingly small actions, such as connecting employees to the beneficiaries of their work (Grant, “Outsource Inspiration,” this volume), fostering employees’ capacity to see themselves as growing at work (Roberts, “Cultivate Positive Identities,” this volume), acting as if the future looks bright (Branzei, “Cultivate Hope,” this volume), encouraging employees to be resourceful in change (Sonenshein, “Treat Employees as Resources,” this volume), or expressing more gratitude to others (Cameron, “Activate Virtuousness,” this volume) can unleash new possibilities. Positive leaders are engaged in actions—it is leadership in motion, not leadership standing still. Single small actions can have multiple beneficial effects.
Positive leaders expand the zone of possibility for excellence in individuals, teams, and organizations by treating meaning, relationships, vision, initiative, and virtues as sources of strength and enhanced capacity. Being a positive leader means taking action from a place of grounded optimism. It means knowing there are solid reasons to believe that greater levels of excellence are possible, even when material and financial resources are limited. A positive leadership approach demonstrates how small actions carry psychological and relational potencies that are deeply impactful and sustainable over time.
Positive leaders do not see people, teams, or organizations as limited entities with fixed capacities. Instead, they see and act on abundant possibilities for expansion and renewal of vital resources inside people, relationships, and teams. Optimism, hope, gratitude, joy, excitement, energy, efficacy, flexibility, respect, trust, and support are the fuel and engine of improved capacities for excellence. Positive leaders appreciate the expansion of possibilities enabled by contagion and the spread of emotions, ideas, and connections that affect the speed and extent to which capacities for excellence can be enlarged. Returning to Figure 1 we introduced in the Invitation introduction, positive leaders expand the zone of possibility, allowing individuals, units, or whole organizations to alter the rate and the level of possible excellence. One question you may be asking is how to get started on your own journey to becoming a positive leader.
Five Core Nuggets for Becoming a More Positive Leader
As we looked across the chapters in the book, five core nuggets became clear. We describe each nugget below and offer an opportunity to jump-start their use in your own leadership practice.
1. Find and Cultivate Positive Meaning in Your Work and in the Work of Others
Positive meaning is a central engine for enhancing individual or collective capacity for excellence. Meaning is potent and pervasive: it is often created through the experience of work, not given or fixed. Leaders have many options to find and to cultivate meaning that strengthens or expands capacities. Meaning is a resource, unlocked through job-crafting activities (Wrz-esniewski, “Engage in Job Crafting,” this volume) and construction of positive identities (Roberts, “Cultivate Positive Identities,” this volume). Motivation is enhanced when positive meaning is created, connecting people’s work to its impact on end users or work beneficiaries (Grant, “Outsource Inspiration,” this volume). Positive meaning is a consequence of finding higher purpose in one’s own work or the organization’s (Quinn and Thakor, “Imbue the Organization with a Higher Purpose,” this volume). Reflect on the different ways that you derive positive meaning from your work or by being a part of your organization. Then consider ways you could cultivate more positive meaning into your work.
APPLICATIONS
1. I find positive meaning in my work (or job) or my organization in the following ways:
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2. How could I craft my work (or job) to be more meaningful?
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3. How could I think about my organization in ways that make it more meaningful to me or others?
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2. Create a Vision That Inspires You and Others around You
Vision is a well-worn term in the realm of leadership. The thought leaders in this book suggest new ways to consider vision. Imagine what could be possible, and question taken-for-granted assumptions of how things are done (Golden-Biddle, “Create Micro-moves for Organizational Change,” this volume). Envision a future with hope that enables leaders to press on and go boldly forward (Branzei, “Cultivate Hope,” this volume). Be open to the idea that a crisis may enable the organization to change for the better (Wooten and James, “Create Opportunity from Crisis,” this volume). Sometimes vision can be created from the bottom up, rather than from the top down. Draw on the ideas of your people, no matter where they are in the organization (Sonenshein, “Treat Employees as Resources,” this volume).
APPLICATIONS
1. The current vision for our unit or organization is:
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2. How could I envision a future that is more inspiring to me and to others?
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3. How can I infuse the vision with greater hope?
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3. Develop and Facilitate More High-Quality Connections for Yourself and for Others
Building and accessing high-quality connections is a critical foundation for enhancing capacities for excellence. High-quality connections provide a safe space for people to experiment and grow (Spreitzer and Porath, “Enable Thriving at Work,” this volume). At the core of this strategy is the knowledge that having high-quality connections builds physiological, psychological, and social strengths for the people in them (Dutton, “Build High-Quality Connections,” this volume). Use successful pathways for facilitating high-quality connections, such as task enabling, respectful engagement, trusting, and playing (Dutton). Build high-quality connections as a means for job crafting, playing to your strengths, values, or passions (Wrzesniewski, “Engage in Job Crafting,” this volume). Given the potentially conflicting nature of negotiations, be mindful about emotional triggers. Allow emotions to facilitate, rather than disrupt, high-quality connections (Kopelman and Mahalingam, “Negotiate Mindfully,” this volume).
APPLICATIONS
1. How can I access or foster the creation of more high-quality connections each day?
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2. How can I access or foster the creation of more high-quality connections for people in my organization?
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3. How can I access and foster more high-quality connections with suppliers, customers, and other groups that are interdependent with my organization?
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4. Be Proactive and Look for Ways for You and Others to Take Initiative
Positive leaders seek out ways to break from routines and learn new action patterns. Pair something unfamiliar with something familiar to create something new (Golden-Biddle). Seek out opportunities to learn new things and grow (Spreit-zer and Porath, “Enable Thriving at Work,” this volume). Take even the smallest of steps, as “if the future were guaranteed,” to keep hope alive (Branzei, “Cultivate Hope,” this volume). Empower employees by thinking of them as resources, able to generate new ideas and innovations (Sonenshein, “Treat Employees as Resources,” this volume). Free employees to make their own decisions, reinterpreting their roles and resources in the face of formidable challenges (Sonenshein). Rather than directing, explore the unfamiliar and new possibilities together (Golden-Biddle, “Create Micro-moves for Organizational Change,” this volume). By providing more decision-making discretion, help your employees thrive (Spreitzer and Porath, “Enable Thriving at Work,” this volume).
APPLICATIONS
1. I tend to be proactive and take initiative in the following ways:
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2. People in my unit feel empowered to take action in the following ways:
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3. Where is there more potential for deeper levels of leader and employee empowerment?
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5. Make Virtuous Action a Priority
Positive leaders activate virtuousness by doing the right thing, even when it is not the easy or expected way to behave (Cameron, “Activate Virtuousness,” this volume). They value character and prioritize humanity in decision making. Positive leaders model ethical behavior in their actions; they do not send mixed signals (Mayer, “Lead an Ethical Organization,” this volume). They walk the talk (Mayer). Positive leaders aspire for something bigger—a life of higher purpose and virtue (Cameron, “Activate Virtuousness,” this volume) and an organization with a higher purpose (Quinn and Thakor, “Imbue the Organization with a Higher Purpose,” this volume).
APPLICATIONS
1. A time when I behaved in alignment with my values was:
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2. How can I facilitate more alignment of my actions with my values?
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3. As an organization, how have we acted virtuously? How can we be more virtuous in our everyday actions going forward?
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Making Positive Leadership Stick
As a positive leader, your intentions and actions will have longer-lasting impacts if they become part of the way of “being” and “doing” in your organization. In many of this book’s examples, this way of being has become part of the soil or fabric of the organization, extending benefits into the future. The positive leader’s impacts are more likely to last if the organization’s culture (shared values, beliefs, and norms), rewards (formal and informal), routines (selection, socialization, talent management, communication), and structures (reporting and project management systems, department or unit groupings) support the kinds of positive leader strategies that have been identified in this volume.
Being a positive leader means acting on your authentic beliefs that the situation can improve, capability can be enhanced, and better is always possible. A positive leader is not naïve, but is wise. He or she knows options are expandable by taking the human-based possibilities for greatness seriously and acting to ignite and enable them. Through the small actions identified in this book, we are confident your impact will be great.