This practical guide, the first to show how leaders can achieve extraordinary results through the positive energy generated by virtuous interactions with employees, is written by one of the giants in the study of positive leadership. This book reveals one of the most important but frequently ignored factors that lead to spectacular performance in organizations. Kim Cameron, a true pioneer in the study of positive leadership, offers validated scientific evidence that all individuals are inherently attracted to and flourish in the presence of positive energy, a principle known in biology as heliotropism. Further, he shows that the positive relational energy generated by leaders' virtuous behaviors—such as generosity, compassion, gratitude, trustworthiness, forgiveness, and kindness—is tightly linked to extraordinary organizational outcomes like greater innovation, higher profits, and increased engagement and retention. Cameron has not written a feel-good tome about the power of positive thinking, “happiology,” or unbridled optimism. This research-based explanation shows how to achieve performance that exceeds expectations. He provides practical suggestions, assessments, and exercises showing how leaders can improve their own positive energy and increase positive relational energy in their organizations. Positively Energizing Leadership is a major contribution to the theory and practice of leadership.
SHORTLISTED: Business Book Awards 2021 - HR & Management Category Productivity is flatlining, employee wellbeing is at an all-time low and stress at an all-time high. Mental health issues are now the biggest single disability affecting the UK and are estimated to cost the economy £105bn each year. Traditional company design, structures and processes are making these issues worse and leading to unprecedented levels of staff burnout. This not only impacts individual employees, there is also a detrimental effect on overall company performance when employees can't perform to their full potential. It is the responsibility of Organizational Development and HR professionals to address these issues urgently and redesign work to allow people to flourish and businesses to thrive. Full of practical advice, tips and tools, The Energized Workplace provides a blueprint for how practitioners can redesign their organizations to support employees and ensure the business outperforms the competition. It covers everything from why existing structures are causing business output to decline, why traditional processes are holding organizations back and what the consequences of not addressing these design issues will mean for business including increased staff turnover, a rise in employee absence and a decline in company profits. Including case studies from organizations across a range of sectors who have successfully put people at the heart of their workplace design such as CyberClick, Mind Valley, Brewdog and Wegmans and with specific guidance on designing for five generations working side by side, across different countries and on separate time zones, The Energized Workplace will help OD and HR professionals confidently tackle the organizational issues putting their company success and employee health and happiness in jeopardy. This book is essential reading for practitioners needing to deal with the wellbeing crisis and productivity puzzle in the new world of work.
Although many organizations see the need to transform and to reinvent themselves, for far too many leaders, "change" and "failure" are virtual synonyms. In fact, most organizational change efforts fail. But that needn’t be the case, and help is at hand. Leading Positive Organizational Change, an alternative way to think about organizational change and development, is a strategic, learnable discipline that can re-energize and re-imagine your enterprise, and release the potential for change – delivering a positive, creative future and breakthrough bottom-line results. Written by an award-winning expert in positive organization development and change leadership, this book provides executives, change leaders, and change leadership teams with a step-by-step guide for collaboratively crafting and executing a change strategy that aligns with organizational objectives so as to fuel their future. With a strong science-backed and field-tested "how to" approach, and with a radical focus on organizational positivity, super-flexibility and renewal, collective design thinking and applied imagination, this highly practical book features: A ToolBox of 30 powerful, imaginative (and time-saving!) tools for you to use in practicing leading positive organizational change and carrying through your change program – with example templates and worksheets, concise notes and ideas from numerous complex global projects. Lead-ins to each chapter that are a fundamental feature of the book, representing a springboard to a chapter and serving the purpose of awakening interest in the topic. Dialogic Reflection for Professional Team Development, at the start of each chapter, that enables you (and your team as a whole) to reflect on and discuss some thought-provoking questions, linking to the chapter and helping to contextualize your learning. Industry Snapshots that explore current issues and trends in one of the fastest-growing professions and industries – coaching and consulting. Windows on Practice that demonstrate how issues are applied in real-life business situations, offering a range of interesting topical illustrations of positive change leadership in practice, relating the core concepts of the book to real-world settings. Summary Propositions, at the end of each chapter, that recap and reinforce the key takeaways from the chapter. References to help you take your learning and development further. Tkaczyk’s engaging, reflective, task-based book equips the change leader and leadership teams with the skills needed to navigate chaos and the unexpected, to renew your business and create winning change. This action-based workbook can be used in a variety of business settings, among others, executive leadership team meetings, organization development and change consulting, design-led strategy retreats, human resource development consultancy, executive 1:1 and team coaching, leadership boot camps, design thinking workshops and sprints, innovation labs, and executive education and MBA courses – as a handy additional text in either an organization development and change or human resource management class. It can also be used in a flexible strategic transformation program – with the flow of the change execution process mapped within the context of a specific change initiative.
What enables some talented people to rise to the top and live their full ambitions at work and in life, while others stop short? In 2007, Joanna Barsh led a team at McKinsey & Company to answer that very question. In the process, they uncovered what distinguishes leaders who are successful from those who achieve true greatness, developing an approach called Centered Leadership. They drew on research from across the academic fields of leadership, organization behavior, neuroscience, evolutionary psychology and positive psychology. In addition, Barsh interviewed over 160 leaders from many fields – including business, government and the arts – and from many countries. With quantitative research, the team learned that these leaders have mastered practices to find their balance in the midst of chaos and lead from their most resourceful selves, unleashing the potential of others. In 2009, Johanne Lavoie joined to lead development of programs that help executives build these capabilities. Their research and development work continues as more and more leaders experience Centered Leadership. In the business bestseller, How Remarkable Women Lead, Barsh described Centered Leadership’s five capabilities and the research that underpins it. Here, with colleague Johanne Lavoie, Barsh provides a practical, actionable field guide for implementation. In Centered Leadership, Barsh and Lavoie will guide you through the Centered Leadership program. You’ll find the interactive tools, exercises, and practices that have helped the men and women participants in Centered Leadership programs gain the skills, courage and confidence to lead. And, along the way, you’ll read inspiring stories of remarkable men and women leaders who demonstrate the power of these skills in action. Those early in their careers will learn how to use these skills to explore their passions and accelerate their professional development. Those forming families will be able to use them to reconcile manage work and life to get the most out of both. And those who have already achieved success will be able use these practices to reach their next leadership horizon. No matter what stage you are currently at in your career, or what level of leadership you aspire to, this book will equip you with the tools to unlock your own Centered Leader and achieve more positive impact at work and outside it.
Take the brakes off your business. In the perfect follow-up to 1001 Ways to Reward Employees, the innovative book that has sold over one million copies, Bob Nelson reveals what real companies across America are doing to get the very best out of their employees-and why it's the key to their success. Energizing is listening-AT&T's Universal Card Service's employee suggestion system yields 1,200 ideas a month and millions of dollars in savings. Energizing is encouraging risk-taking-Hershey Foods gives out The Exalted Order of the Extended Neck Award. Energizing is Starbuck's making employees partners, Saturn creating teams that function as independent small businesses, Springfield Remanufacturing's opening its books to all employees. With case studies, examples, techniques, research highlights, and quotes from business leaders, 1001 Ways to Energize Employees is invaluable for managers seeking to increase employee enthusiasm and involvement.
The pressure on CEOs and other leaders to create results, while balancing an increasing diversity of opposing demands, is reaching oppressive levels. Leaders sense a breakdown to our existing approaches to business. The framework that was used to guide their efforts and create successful outcomes no longer produce the same results. The Living Organization® delivers a new model that transforms the best of what worked before and expands it to deliver new life and growth for organizations. First and foremost, The Living Organization deepens our understanding of how any living organization creates the results it desires. Norman Wolfe draws on decades of experience both leading and consulting with organizations, large and small, to unravel the mystery of creating results Based on scientific, philosophical and spiritual truths, The Living Organization model explores how three distinct yet highly interdependent fields of energy influence and determine what results will and will not be created. Beyond just a new theory, Norman Wolfe provides practical tools for aligning and focusing the organization on strategy execution. Building on decades of learning about organization effectiveness and execution management, The Living Organization expands our frameworks for allocating resources and making decisions that will reap the desired results. Most organizations fail because they focus only on activities and reduce organizations to simple machines of production. But machines are, by their very nature, soulless and everything the machine paradigm touches turns soulless and lifeless. By contrast, The Living Organization brings life to an organization's activity. It is energized by relationships and brings meaning and purpose to activities. The Living Organization is a creative force and is in harmony with its environment,growing and developing as it contributes to and enhances all members of its ecosystem. "Like all living systems, organizations create by transforming energy. The magic of companies like Apple, Whole Foods, Harley Davidson, Nordstrom," Wolfe writes,"lies in their ability to harness the three energy fields of manifestation whether done consciously or unconsciously." The Living Organization presents the foundation of a new business model that provides a more detailed map to navigate the complex business world of this century. This evolutionary perspective is afresh way to understand how organizations develop, grow and evolve. It will challenge the way you think and interact. The guiding principles and theories can direct the largest of corporations or the entrepreneurial startup in getting the results they want. Deeply personal, brimming with compelling stories from real-life challenges, and packed with powerful insights, tools, and practices, this book is a potent resource for aspiring, emerging, and seasoned business leaders alike. Or anyone interested in creating the results they desire.
A 2018 Nautilus Book Award Winner for Business and Leadership! The founder of Menlo Innovations and author of the business culture cult classic Joy, Inc offers an inspirational guide to leaders seeking joy in the challenge of leading others. Rich Sheridan's Joy, Inc. told the story of how his tiny software company in Ann Arbor, Michigan achieved success and renown by embracing offbeat culture and human-centered values. In Chief Joy Officer, he turns his attention from culture to leadership, and draws on his experience running Menlo and consulting elsewhere to offer a wise, provocative guide on how anyone can build leadership capacity for joy within their own organization. Chief Joy Officer offers sage, hard-won advice to any manager or leader who yearns to make more of an impact on the lives of others, including: * Self-understanding is the cornerstone for every virtue of leadership: authenticity, trust, humility, and optimism. * Good leaders make more leaders: Learn to judge your performance not on whether people are doing what they're told, but whether they're developing independent leadership capacity. * Influencing up is just as important is influencing down: how to encourage different thinking in those above you in your organizations. Filled with colorful anecdotes from Sheridan's personal journey and wisdom from many leadership mentors, Chief Joy Officer offers an approachable, down-to-earth philosophy and practice that will help even the most disillusioned of middle managers bring a renewed sense of purpose to their work building others.
Energize Your Leadership springs from a collaboration of 16 leaders from around the world who came together online. They recognized a lack of energy, excitement and sense of purpose in the leaders they interact with each day. As they explored ways to help these disengaged, overwhelmed and discouraged leaders discover a new spark an extraordinary community of friends developed. Here they share stories from their individual journeys to demonstrate how energy ignites leadership success. Join us to energize your leadership - Discover, Ignite, Break Through. Energize Yourself Regardless of whichever philosophical or spiritual path you choose to follow, all of them have one factor in common - the root of all energy begins within, since the seed of all energy is found within ourselves. In this first part, we examine that seed by taking a look at four crucial energy centers found within ourselves and how best to tap them: Values, Gifts, Self-Questioning, Creativity. Energize Others Energizing others begins with the self. When you deeply know your values and gifts, the next step is bringing that true self outward - with authenticity and honesty. A foundation of authenticity brings life, vigor and genuine connection to personal and professional relationships. From there, you can meet the needs of others and motivate them to be active participants in the co-creative process. In this section, we look at four practices key to people-energizing: True to Oneself, Being Seen for What (and Who) You Are, Deal with Problem People, Serve to Lead - Lead to Serve. Energize Your Workplace An organization, like any collective of people, is not just the sum of its individuals but an entity unto itself. Together, these collected people form a singular organism with its own behavior and culture. We hope for one whose energy crackles with positivity and growth. Although all the insights in this book can be applied at the organization level, in this part we look at four factors that are especially crucial to an organization's collective energy reserves: Brand "You", Gut Thinking, Gratitude-Based Organizational Attitude, Love Multiples. Energize Your Future The future is often presented as some uncertain void of chaos and unpredictability, and while this is true to a large extent, such a representation also ignores the fact that we are each armed with those tools that can give us the best chance at success in the future. But how best to energize a future that holds so much unknown? Here are four concepts to do just that: Have a Plan B, Recognize the Role of Fun, Explore the Unknown, Face Whatever Comes with Positivity.
In Energy Leadership, renowned coach Bruce D. Schneider teaches how to understand the most important personal resource of all -- energy, and shows how to harness it to achieve success in the workplace, the home, and in the world at large. This engaging and fast-paced story clearly explains how managers and leaders from all walks of life can use the principles of Energy Leadership to inspire themselves and others to achieve extraordinary results in whatever they do. The author provides insight into a cutting edge coaching process he has developed, which has positively impacted the lives of tens of thousands of people in both the corporate and private sectors. You will learn how to: Recognize the seven distinct levels that are the key to understanding why everyone thinks and acts the way they do, in life and specifically within the workplace. Distinguish truly effective leaders from those who deplete the energy of the people around them, and specific techniques to shift energy levels to inspire peak performance. Become powerful leaders who motivate themselves and others to reach their true potential. Identify the Big Four Energy Blocks and discover proven techniques and strategies for overcoming these and other obstacles to success. Develop the ability to shift internal energy to meet any leadership challenge, and use this newfound power to inspire respect, confidence, and loyalty in others. If you always try to inspire others but sometimes feel like something?s missing, something is. Energy Leadership puts you in touch with the missing link between your ambitions and your ability to achieve them.
