Developing A Positive Leader Skill: An Essay.

You are required to develop a power point presentation. The power point presentation must be supported by references on the final page. It should show how one small part of the Positive leader theory can be turned into a skill development exercise useful in the workplace.

Please note that you must upload your Power point slides through Turn it in.

1. Identify one of characteristics of being a positive leaderand develop a presentation about one strategy that a positive leader could use to improve the productivity and wellbeing of one type of employee (such as emotional labour (such as nurses or carers) or first response employees (such as police officers/ soldiers) or different types of professionals (such as engineers)or a specific generational cohort or any other type of employee. The presentation can include different types of skill development exercises aimed at demonstrating the impact of each strategy. 

Or

2. Develop a workshop for improving positive emotions/workplace relationships/hope/psychological capital/positive values or any other positive attribute evident in the peer-reviewed journals.

Or

3. Develop a presentation showing how you would use positive leadership skills to convince your management (Board of Director) of an idea that would improve employee performance (engagement/wellbeing).

Or

4. Develop a presentation for management about how you would use positive leadership skills to introduce the adoption of proactive maintenance skills.  

Positive Leader theory

Positive Leadership is a leadership strategy which helps the organizations and leaders to perform and excel under extra-ordinary times. Positive leadership is always closely assigned with the business strategy, and all the efforts are inclined to drive higher performance across the organization. Thus, a positive leader not only accelerates the performance of the organization, he ensures the well being of its employees as well. Being a positive leader is defining and exhibiting high moral and ethical courage and setting an example across the company. A positive leader is a person who has high degree of self awareness, and based on his strength he creates a postive working environment for everyone in the organization.

The presentation aims to demonstrate positive skills of leadership to convince the management of the idea which would improve the Performance of the employees.

It is a well known fact that business organization are always facing challenges due to the changing business scenarios. One big challenge business always face is ensuing the engagement and the well being of the employees working for the growth and success of the business. Extending from the introduction, the presentation aims to showcase the positive skills of leadership to convince the top management about the idea which would accelerate the performance of the employees. It is a positive leader who picks up the lacunae in the current practices of employee engagement, and plays on his strength to devise new strategies and get an approval from the top management. 

The true essence of Positive leadership lies in ensuring a positive workplace environment where employees learn, grow and move forward along with the organization(Hannah, Woolfolk & Lord, 2009)

Leadership is the art and application of skill encompassing the ability of an individual to influence, motivate, inspire and create a vision to lead the individuals and the organization  on the path of excellence. The true essence of leadership is guided by the three elements:
Consistent learning of the workforce.
Sustained growth of the employees and the organization.
Engagement/Well being and the overall development of the employees.

The positive leader is always working towards creating a happy, positive, learning and a forward looking environment in the workplace.

Positive Emotions- This is related to how much a person is content with his life(Eldridge, 2013).

Engagement- How to engage the employees within the organization

Building Positive Relationship with the employees(Lamprasitipon, 2016).

Appreciate them for their work, Every Single Time

Engagement is the art of building relationship with the employees in order to build trust and strong ties with them. Engagement is the degree or the extent to which a person really loves what he has been doing in the organization. Thus, part of it is the duty of the positive leaders to drive strategies to create engagement with the employees. An engaged employee is a harbinger of a content and a productive employee. 

Wellbeing is mostly related to emotions, such as positive emotions. It is like saying how much a person is content with his life, it is the well being of the person at all front which is defined in the well being. A company always has to be customer and employee centric in order to expect growth , sustainability, engagement and well being in all dimensions.

Skill development exercise for the workplace

The onus here is on the Positive leader to bring in added layers of engagement in the organization.

Engagement and Well being are prerequisite to the success and growth of the organization.

Employees to be seen as the building blocks of the company, whose well being is the responsibility of the leader and the employer.

A positive leader engages and ensures the well being of the employees for the dual benefit- Growth of the organization and the employees.

Engagement is the art of building relationship with the employees in order to build trust and strong ties with them. Engagement is the degree or the extent to which a person really loves what he has been doing in the organization. Thus, part of it is the duty of the positive leaders to drive strategies to create engagement with the employees. An engaged employee is a harbinger of a content and a productive employee. 

Wellbeing is mostly related to emotions, such as positive emotions. It is like saying how much a person is content with his life, it is the well being of the person at all front which is defined in the well being. A company always has to be customer and employee centric in order to expect growth , sustainability, engagement and well being in all dimensions.

• Likes to experiment with Ideas
• Openness in communication
• Kindness
• Visionary (Kuhn & Weinberger, 2005)
• Employee Centric
• High on Integrity and Honesty (Cameron, 2012)
• Strong willingness to understand others

There are certain attributes which are the points of distinction between a leader and a positive leader. It is due to these attributes a leader becomes a positive leader. Some of those skills are:

A positive leader always likes to experiment with ideas. For instance, Jeff Bezos is a positive leader, by the virtue of plethora of experiment in the organization he is in a position to pick the best ideas. Thus, it is a very natural skill of a positive leader, experiment!!  experiment!!! and many more experiment!!!

A Positive leader is a big promoter of communication, he is of the opinion that openness in communication is a big factor in creating a positive workplace environment, and the employees appreciate the efforts of the leader in this direction. 

A positive leader is a person who believes to forgive and forget the mistakes of others. He believes that its human to make mistake, what is important is to learn from the mistakes and never repeat it. This is the outlook of the positive leader towards his employees.

A leader is always working hard to achieve sustainability in the organization and its employees, in order to reach this mission the positive leader translates his vision for the organization into the goals of the employees. This visionary approach helps in creating a path for their followers.

Richard Branson, the CEO of Virgin Atlantic believes that organization should take care of its employees, who in turn will take care of the customers. Employee centric approach is a skill displayed by positive leader. 

A positive Leader displays high level of strength, courage and moral values. He practices high ethical behaviour and integrity and inculcates the same within the organization.

References

A positive leader always communicates to understand, and not respond. A positive leader is always willing to understand others , he believes that it is only by understanding that he would be able to eradicate the problems of the employees from the stem.

• Determined
• Believer of Positive Employment relationship.
• Defines roles and objectives for the team and believes in transforming the organization(Northouse, 2017)
• Always have a positive outlook towards the employees and believes in their abilities.
• A positive leader always works towards pushing the performance of the employees(Dinkmeyer, 2017).

There are certain attributes which are the points of distinction between a leader and a positive leader. It is due to these attributes a leader becomes a positive leader. Some of those skills are:

A positive leader always likes to experiment with ideas. For instance, Jeff Bezos is a positive leader, by the virtue of plethora of experiment in the organization he is in a position to pick the best ideas. Thus, it is a very natural skill of a positive leader, Experiment!!  Experiment !!! and many more Experiment!!!

A Positive leader is a big promoter of communication, he is of the opinion that openness in communication is a big factor in creating a positive workplace environment, and the employees appreciate the efforts of the leader in this direction. 

A positive leader is a person who believes to forgive and forget the mistakes of others. He believes that its human to make mistake, what is important is to learn from the mistakes and never repeat it. This is the outlook of the positive leader towards his employees.
A leader is always working hard to achieve sustainability in the organization and its employees, in order to reach this mission the positive leader translates his vision for the organization into the goals of the employees. This visionary approach helps in creating a path for their followers.

Richard Branson, the CEO of Virgin Atlantic believes that organization should take care of its employees, who in turn will take care of the customers. Employee centric approach is a skill displayed by positive leader. 

A positive Leader displays high level of strength, courage and moral values. He practices high ethical behaviour and integrity and inculcates the same within the organization.

A positive leader always communicates to understand, and not respond. A positive leader is always willing to understand others , he believes that it is only by understanding that he would be able to eradicate the problems of the employees from the stem.

Use the growth in social media to the advantage of employees and Appreciate them on Social media platforms such as Facebook and Linked-In (Avolio, Luthans & Ryan, 2006)

In order to ensure the well-being of the employees in the organization workplace safety procedures to be established and a training to be provided to the employees(Own, 2017)

Keeping the objective of engagement in mind, the employees will be asked to practice their hobbies in the workplace at every Saturday. Hobbies such as Playing music, singing and other things will keep the employees engaged and happy within the organization (Training, 2012)

This slide is a stream of ideas which is to be presented to the Board of directors and convince them to get on board with the idea of engagement and the well being of the employees. The ideas are based on the best practice in the industry and using the social and personal skills of the employees for their own good.

The first idea is based on utilizing the social media platform for the purpose of reward and recognition of the employees. This practice on social media platform will help in creating a higher sense of achievement in the employees.

The second idea of training is based on the rationale of providing an environment of learning and development for the employees. This will help in contributing towards their professional development and engage them in the activities of the organization.

The third idea, which is extremely creating and build strong engagement amongst the employees as well as ensure their well being is to start a trend of practicing hobbies at the workplace. Every Saturday, the employees will be encouraged to do some co-curricular activity and make it as a part of team building exercise.

The winning strategy of the positive leader is utilizing his skills to win over the Board of directors and convince them to be on board with the ideas. A positive leader embarks his winning strategy on a facts and figures and has done his homework before meeting the management. He utilizes a three prong approach in his strategy:

The leader is involved in ideating and brainstorming to come up with at least 10-20 ideas, and then further brainstorms to pick the best three ideas which have the potential of creating most impact in the lives of the employees.

Positive leader never forces his decision on his team, on the contrary he takes the feedback of the employees on the proposed idea, which also helps in overall employee empowerment.

The last step is conducting a series of meeting with the BOD with perseverance and determination to convince them the idea. He utilizes all the present arrows in his quiver while communicating and discussing ideas with the BOD.

• Demonstrating the success of idea by various case studies
• A presentation on the Pros and Cons related to the ideas and convince the management by the Scientific Method
• Implementing the Pilot Project of the Ideas for a week and observe the results.
• One to one discussion with the management with perseverance and determination to implement the idea
• Online voting of the employees and take their views on the ideas and present to the management
• Writing a blog to the management explaining them the usefulness of the ideas by utilizing the art of storytelling.

A positive leader approaches the management at all angles, as he is a firm believer of his ideas and believes that the ideas will ensure the well being and engagement of the employees. He utilizes the 6 strategies to convince the management on his ideas and to gain their trust:

A leader explores and present various case studies showing how the ideas given by him would most definitely result in successful outcome.

A leader tries to convince the management by granting him to deploy the pilot project for a short time and observe the result.
A leader showcases the result of the online voting he took from the employees to demonstrate to the management that the employees are euphoric on the proposed idea.

Another way is by virtue of creating a power point presentation on the Pro’s and the supposedly con’s of the idea to give management a clear cut idea of what to expect from idea implementation.

A leader engages in frequent one to one discussion either with board members separately or collectively, the objective here is to convince them on the ideas by his perseverance and determination.

This is a creative and a contemporary way of convincing the management, Positive leader can utilize blogs and do a story telling on the inception of idea, its  implementation and execution and why the idea will deliver strong results for the organization.

• Online voting of the employees and take their views on the ideas and present to the management(Singh, Kumar & Puri, 2017)
• Developing a Project implementation charter for the Board of Directors explaining the relevancy and effectiveness of the idea(Anderson, 2017)

A positive leader approaches the management at all angles, as he is a firm believer of his ideas and believes that the ideas will ensure the well being and engagement of the employees. He utilizes the 6 strategies to convince the management on his ideas and to gain their trust:

A leader explores and present various case studies showing how the ideas given by him would most definitely result in successful outcome.

A leader tries to convince the management by granting him to deploy the pilot project for a short time and observe the result.

A leader showcases the result of the online voting he took from the employees to demonstrate to the management that the employees are euphoric on the proposed idea.

Another way is by virtue of creating a power point presentation on the Pro’s and the supposedly con’s of the idea to give management a clear cut idea of what to expect from idea implementation.

A leader engages in frequent one to one discussion either with board members separately or collectively, the objective here is to convince them on the ideas by his perseverance and determination.

This is a creative and a contemporary way of convincing the management, Positive leader can utilize blogs and do a story telling on the inception of idea, its  implementation and execution and why the idea will deliver strong results for the organization.

Conclusion

The strategy to communicate with the BOD is based on leveraging the relationship building skills with communication skills to implement the wellbeing/engagement plan at the organization. 

In order to conclude, it can be said that leaders uses his communication ability and infuses it with his conviction and leverages the relationship with the board to implement the idea in the business organization.

References

Eldridge, C., 2013. Participatory methods, behaviour-influence and development–a discussion paper.'. Unpublished discussion paper, available online: pubs. iied. org G, 3636.

Lamprasitipon, P., 2016. Empowering youth: promoting subjective well-being among Thai adolescents of low socioeconomic status through extracurricular activities and positive psychology intervention.

Cameron, K., 2012. Positive leadership: Strategies for extraordinary performance. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Hannah, S.T., Woolfolk, R.L. and Lord, R.G., 2009. Leader self?structure: a framework for positive leadership. Journal of Organizational Behavior: The International Journal of Industrial, Occupational and Organizational Psychology and Behavior, 30(2), pp.269-290.

Kuhn, P. and Weinberger, C., 2005. Leadership skills and wages. Journal of Labor Economics, 23(3), pp.395-436.

Avolio, B.J., Luthans, F. and Ryan, C., 2006. The high impact leader. New York: McGraw Hill.

Training, D.C., 2012. What drives employee engagement and why it matters. Dale Carnegie Training White Paper, pp.1-6.

Northouse, P.G., 2018. Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.

Dinkmeyer, D., 2017. Skills of Encouragement: Bringing Out the Best in Yourself and Others. Routledge.

Owen, J., 2017. The Leadership Skills Handbook: 90 Essential Skills You Need to be a Leader. Kogan Page Publishers.

Anderson, T., 2017. Build the Leadership Organization First: Then Build a Learning Organization. In Transforming Leadership (pp. 30-33). Routledge.

Singh, R., Kumar, N. and Puri, S., 2017. Thought self-leadership strategies and sales performance: integrating selling skills and adaptive selling behavior as missing links. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 32(5), pp.652-663.