March 3, 2023
When you first began working, did you ever think you would end up leading? What kind of leader have you expected to be? Positive leadership is about how we can enhance the skills and qualities of each team member. It’s about figuring out how to invest energy and time to know our team members and understand their strengths and abilities. Have you ever wondered how to recognize your team’s talents and honored their essential skills? From a positive leadership perspective, this kind of action could optimize work and create an impactful workplace.
Unlike other types of leadership, positive leadership focuses on employee skills. Positive Leaders must be aligned with their purpose, values, and story to allow the team to explore their full potential.
You might wonder what you can do to become a more positive leader. This article will offer three practical actions to transform your leadership style positively.
The first step to becoming a successful leader is learning to lead yourself. Taking care of your tasks and deadlines is the first step towards self-leadership. Still, right after mastering this ability, it is critical to understand where your work motivation comes from and what elements define the leader you want to become. Your personal values will guide you into each small action of your day and will also direct how you make decisions in difficult times.
If you want to start this reflection about yourself, you can pick five values from the James Clear list, he is a big thinker about decision-making and an author about habits.
Values help us reflect on how we make decisions and in which moments of our life they guide us. Do you remember when you didn’t act according to your values? Why do you think this happened? It happens to everyone; no need to judge or blame yourself.
Make sure you write your values somewhere you can look towards when you struggle to decide on work. When we make decisions honoring our values, we are making space for your team and those around you to live and breathe the values you desire.
Everyone around you, including yourself, has flaws and skills to be developed. Despite this being a universal truth, when we lead ourselves or our teams through the logic of scarcity, we often feel unmotivated, unprepared, and small in the face of challenges. We always think about what is missing and don’t value what we already have. The logic of abundance is based on strengthening positive characteristics and developing them to unlock our superpowers.
Ask the people around you what your strengths are. Preferably your work bestie or someone you live with. When you know which strengths do you have, you start to feel more comfortable about using them as tools to transform your workplace. Reflecting on how we can further develop these skills it’s a great way to positively transform your work environment and your team.
From the moment you discover your values and know how to strengthen your qualities and those around you, it is time to understand how to create a safe environment to work, develop as a person, and learn from everyone around you.
The key is clear and inclusive communication. An environment where people can freely express their feelings, bring their ideas, and be respected for their opinions is fruitful for exchanges, learning, and innovation. And as a Positive Leader, it is up to you to encourage the environment toward this aim.
Curiosity is a great tool to start this process. Ask questions to people; it is an awesome way to know them better. You can, but you don’t need to go personal here. You can ask people about their professional stories – details, what they learned, what they miss, or what they are happy about that is over. Be curious about the people around you. Do they like to work with music? What kind of music? Do they prefer to think while talking, or do they prefer to think first and talk after? Do they have a dream job? Who do they admire?
You will discover that some people are more comfortable talking about themselves than others. But continue to encourage dialogue and exchanges of knowledge. And remember to value what people tell you and listen before you speak.
Being a Positive Leader is an intense process of self-discovery where you exchange with peers and team members. This leadership style requires you to know how to trust, motivate, delegate, and exchange feedback with your team. It is a beautiful path to go through, and you must trust this process!
If you are an early-stage leader or are preparing yourself to soon become a leader and want to improve your skills in positively leading teams, we have created a short course just for you. This can be a great chance to enhance your abilities and join a qualified positive leaders network.
