Positive Leadership in Practice:
A Model for Our Future
Whilst everybody knows the importance of great leadership, less is known about what constitutes a leadership approach that brings the best out of ourselves as leaders and out of others, and even less again is known about the ‘how’ in which we practically develop this leadership. That is exactly why I set out to write “Positive Leadership in Practice: A framework for the future” released in 2022.
‘Positive Leadership’ integrates what we know from the leadership field in what creates the most effective leaders, with what we know from the science of positive psychology – "the science of the conditions and processes that lead to optimal human functioning" (Gable & Haidt, 2005:104) – and offers us an integrated model of what leadership behaviours brings the best in wellbeing and performance from leaders and their teams.
Over a 2020-2022 multi-faceted research project reviewing experiences and data on leadership practice, my co-author Jolanta Burke and I developed a memorable framework called the ALIGHT model to help the world to understand how we can develop more effective leadership approaches from this combination of research fields.
The ‘ALIGHT’ model talks about six specific resources (identified in the research) that when applied and developed make the biggest difference in how leaders and their teams feel and perform (or optimally function in technical speak!). We have labelled these six resources as Abundance, Limberness, Inspiration, Grand Design, Health and Tribe.
We also developed a positive leadership questionnaire, please get in touch if you would like to use this for assessment purposes.
You can buy the book here.
The below outlines some examples of how we as leaders can self develop some of these key resources in ourselves and in our work with others. We’d love to support you on your journey towards incorporating Positive Leadership into your leadership style, organisations and businesses.
Please get in touch.
The six resources
Abundance is a leader’s inclination towards seeing, developing, and using their own, other people’s and organisational strengths. It comprises of three components: (1) strengths mindset, which refers to a leader’s belief that strengths are malleable, (2) strengths spotting, meaning an ability for leaders to name their strengths and strengths of others; and (3) strengths use, which refers to a leaders’ ability to apply strengths in their daily life and encourage other to do the same.
Limberness is a leader’s ability to adapt, be emotionally agile and become resilient in changing contexts. Limberness is three-fold and multidimensional in how it empowers leaders to be agile and flexible. It comprises of (1) adaptability, which involves an intentional shift in behaviour or mindset, (2) emotional agility, which is the ability to choose a reaction – a selection of an emotional or indeed a cognitive response - that best or better fits the scenario we find ourselves in, and (3) resilience, learning and growing from an experience, be it adverse or positive.
Inspiration is a resource that helps leaders inspire others to become the best versions of themselves. It differs from leaders being perceived as inspirational, which implies they are superhuman. Inspiration is not a superhuman quality but a resource that helps leaders move themselves and their teams to resolute action. It consists of three elements: (1) self-efficacy, (2) hope and optimism, and (3) energising networks.
Grand design is a leader’s ability to transcend day-to-day activities into meaningful contributions and vice versa. There are three primary constructs within grand design that we have identified from the research. Grand design comprises of (1) meaning, which is about a positive leader’s ability to develop comprehension and significance for themselves and others, where a worthwhile narrative is created, (2) purpose, which is the subcomponent of this meaning or the plot of meaning, and is the putting of meaning into action and living by our values in what we are doing in work and life, and finally, (3) catabolism, which derives from the component of purpose and is the specific action taken to deliver on the plot, in order to meet the bigger narrative of meaning.
Health refers to a leader's ability to truly prioritise health in the broadest sense of themselves and their colleagues. Healthy leadership goes beyond health-promotion and health-orientation and towards an interaction between an employee and their leader which can be health-inducive or health-impeding (Eberz & Herbert Antoni, 2016). The health component of the ALIGHT model consists of three elements: (1) promotion, which relates to leaders taking action to promote healthy behaviours; (2) orientation, referring to leaders taking action to ensure a healthy environment; and (3) full integration, which refers to healthy exchanges between leaders and their tribe and consideration of wider stakeholders.
Tribe refers to the leaders’ ability to assess, initiate, foster, develop and redevelop relationships to meet our relational needs as an individual, team, organisation or within a system The tribe resource of our positive leaders is about (1) connection and positive interpersonal processes, which involve ongoing and continuous everyday interactions such as being caring, (2) high quality connections, which are deeper relational events between colleagues felt at a more physiological level, and (3) positive conflict, which is about leaning into and prospering from conflict including through being generous with feedback.
This practical, research-informed book offers readers from across sectors an overview of what leadership behaviours can bring the best out of leaders themselves, and the teams and communities around them. It is applicable to what will bring the best out of us in work and in life, and addresses how positive leadership can meet and address today’s challenges. The book draws on the latest of what we know from positive psychology, leadership research and practice.
“The human race has faced a catastrophic pandemic in COVID-19 and teeters on the brink of a climate crisis. More people than ever are disengaged at work and experience levels of anxiety and depression, and more students are leaving school ill-equipped for their fast-moving futures. Approaches to leadership which will fundamentally transform the way we learn, educate and work are critical for a more sustainable and positive future. Over the past 30 years positive psychology has brought more to the fore on what creates optimum functioning at individual, teams, and systems-level and there’s an urgency to integrate and embed this knowledge into our personal and professional lives moving forward. This book will provide a succinct model that will change the way we view leadership.”