Affective Leadership - Positivity Promotes Productivity

Affective leaders ensure that organizational decisions are seen and discussed through a variety of highly informed lenses.  This week we look at five keys to embracing complementary teams:   being open to change, creating a culture of inclusion, defining professional and personal lines, establishing fluid team composition, and unifying the exit message.  Embracing complements pulls different lenses into focus and brings people and ideas together in meeting organizational goals.

Affective leaders provide not only the means for employees to have the latitude to make decisions, but also the tools to help them succeed. This week we look at five keys to earning greater autonomy:  defining boundaries, establishing common direction, initiating top down discussions, clarifying the definition of autonomy, and earning project specific autonomy.  Once autonomy is established and supported, greater success is possible for both the employee and the organization.

Affective leaders realize that cultivating a deep sense of commitment among personnel strengthens the overall organization.   This week we explore key methods for cultivating this important level of commitment:  raising overall expectations, balancing pressure and support, keeping the big picture in view, dispensing genuine praise, and valuing performance over politics.   Commitment needs to be firmly established and then nurtured over time, to ensure sustained success in the organization.

Establishing and maintaining high expectations while supporting employees in the pursuit of greater responsibility is key to the development of the individual and the organization.  Affective leaders empower employees in several important ways:  create a culture of commitment, encourage ownership of a task, offer fluid growth experiences, promote ‘grow and go’ opportunities, and value complementary teams and different perspectives.

Positional Authority exists for any leader in any organization.  By making people feel respected, valued and heard, affective leaders also bring Relational Authority to the table. This week we discuss how affective leaders can develop relational authority across their organization: respecting your predecessor, conveying competence, walking the talk, admitting errors, and managing a crisis.  Ensuring leaders understand the potential impact of both types of authority is critical for positive outcomes in the organization.

Affective leaders understand that there are times when either spoken or written communication is more advantageous when communicating in the workplace. This week we consider spoken and written communication in five key areas:  sharing professional information, following up meetings, responding to disconnects, addressing performance concerns, and supporting personal issues. The particulars of a given situation dictate which combination of spoken and written communication will be most effective.

Affective leaders know that ensuring people receive a message the way it is intended is a key component of successful communication within the organization. This week we discuss five ways of aligning intent and impact when messaging:  refining your delivery, monitoring the message, routinely restating information, addressing misalignments, and prioritizing concerns.  Being aware of both the message and the recipient at all times is crucial to positive, effective communication.

Affective leaders recognize the importance of having a strong communication network across the entire organization, and it all starts with the leader reaching out.  This week we outline five key items to consider:  quality of communication, a message’s intent vs. impact, spoken words, written words, and relational vs. positional authority.  Affective leaders know that establishing and maintaining a strong communication network is critical to organizational success.

How people see, hear, and interpret what the leader says has a profound impact on the whole organization.  This week we explore optics in five key areas:  the power of precedents, recognizing different lenses, understanding the need for transparency, buying time (reflecting) as opposed to waffling (avoidance), and the existing in the fishbowl nature of the workplace.  Affective leaders are not only aware of the impact of optics, but also realize the need to use optics to their advantage.

Affective leaders know that understanding what makes people tick is time well spent in developing the organization.  Five key areas of understanding are explored in today’s podcast: discussing life experiences, recognizing people’s motivations, being emotionally intelligent, sharing vulnerability, and identifying ‘go to’ people.  The more a leader understands everyone at work, the more committed people will be both to their specific job and to the overall organization.