In a previous blog I looked at the importance of raising your positive intelligence (PI) to improve your own performance and frame of mind.

But how can you influence those around you in positive ways?

This is the essence of PI Leadership and in this blog I wanted to share a high level view of the key elements of this for you.

  1. High self-awareness – It really does all begin with you. You need to start with awareness of your own constraints, your psychological saboteurs and the strategies you can employ to keep your own thinking positive. Please see my previous blog on PI here.
  2. Developing a positive culture – This begins with you, but then also the positive energisers that exist in your business. You can coach your key influencers in how important it is that they maintain a positive culture. Research has found that high performing businesses have 3 times more positive energisers than average ones. So focus on developing your positive energisers to help move the culture to support high performance. 
  3. A positive Vision for the future – PI Leadership needs a clear positive vision of the future for the business. You need to know where the point B is that you are looking to lead your team to from the point A where you are now. If you can engage your people in forming this Vision you are more likely to encourage the performance that will achieve this. Associated with this is the “Purpose of the business” – why do you do what you do?
  4. Employee Engagement – A PI Leader will seek to engage the people in the business. I recently saw Dr Roger Bretherton, a Doctor in Psychology, speak at Lincoln University on this very topic. From a meta-analysis of research studies into employee engagement 4 main factors are seen as vital: a) transparent leadership – being a leader people trust, b) enabling an employee voice – providing the opportunity for input, c) organisational integrity – do your people passionately believe in what you do and d) reward and recognition (and much of the research points to recognition as being the key element here!). Your people are your number one asset and you will get more from them if you can move them out of an “employee mindset”. 
  5. Empathetic leadership – as a PI Leader you will be closely in tune with what is going on in your business. Not just the activities but emotionally. Relating closely to how your key team members are feeling, showing concern and offering coaching and support when needed will earn the respect, loyalty and commitment of your team and people. 
  6. Flexible leadership – One size does not fit all! You need to be able to flex between styles to get the best out of your people. When do you need to coach? When do you need to inspire through the vision? When is the right time to take the democratic approach? And yes at times when do you need to be direct and just get things moving? This implies a leadership style that is based around high emotional intelligence. 
  7. Positive reinforcement – Research by Marcial Losada has found that high performance is achieved in businesses where the ratio of positive to negative feedback is in the region of 6 to 1. Many business exist in a climate of negative feedback that ultimately results in poor performance and the loss of key people. You and your leaders need to move to a place where positive performance is recognised regularly. This does not mean wearing rose tinted glasses, as negative performance must be dealt with swiftly, but it mean keeping a focus on the balance being highly positive. 
  8. Igniting and stimulating creativity – Almost all businesses will thrive on new ideas. It is what will differentiate you from your competitors and make you stand out with potential customers. So fostering a culture where time for creativity is not only allowed but planned for and facilitated is crucial. Ensure your people have creativity time in their diaries and the business is not just focused on doing the do! Encourage new ideas, hold awards for these and find ways to actively promote creativity. 
  9. A clear focus on delivery – Given the importance of creativity and innovation, it is essential that you still deliver. So as a PI Leader, you need ensure that people plan and act to deliver on the creative ideas. Accountability and responsibility need to be at the core of your business.

 

At The Leadership Training Workshop we deliver leadership programmes within a PI Leadership model based on these fundamental core components. For more information, please give us a call on 07912 143040 or drop us a line at lead@theleadershiptrainingworkshop.com.

To find out more about accelerating your business success and being happier in what you do, please join us at our upcoming free events “Achieving Success and Happiness in Your Business”. Click HERE to book your place.