Positive Leadership Model
- Premise 1: Processes and systems are powerful force multipliers.
- Premise 2: I have to be the best person I can be in order to lead others.
- Premise 3: People do their best work when positively supported and given room to grow.
Therefore, I created a Positive Leadership Model for myself so I can be the best person I can be and therefore lead others the best I can.
| Inward | Outward | |
|---|---|---|
| Positive | Obsess over constructive solutions | Build others up |
| Effort | Apply consistent, focused effort | Empower the team through ownership |
| Process | Relentlessly build upon past success | Set a clear vision and defined direction |
| Leadership | Strive to live as an example | Unify with uplifting, two-way communication |
Manufacturing Success
Success doesn’t happen by accident. Success comes from putting forth effort into accomplishing something. The more disciplined, consistent, focused, and intentional the effort, the greater the odds of success. Conquering a challenge efficiently (and repeatedly) involves executing tasks in an ideal and consistent manner.
Most challenges we set out to conquer are solvable problems, things that have been done before and will be done again. So why re-invent the wheel? Or better yet, why would I just hope that my actions produce the best results?
This is why processes and systems are so powerful. A good process or system has enough structure to ensure we execute in a consistent manner while still being flexible to accommodate a wide variety of situations, expected and unexpected.
That is why I have created my own Positive Leadership Model.
The model is broken into two parts with eight different principals in total. In order to lead others effectively, I must lead myself effectively. If I can lead myself effectively, those positive changes in myself will overflow towards others, serving them so they can be the best they can be. This combo builds effective teams that generate a multiplicative output.
The Positive Leadership Model
Inward:
- Obsess over constructive solutions
- Apply consistent, focused effort
- Relentlessly build upon past success
- Strive to live as an example
Outward:
- Build others up
- Empower the team through ownership
- Set a clear vision and defined direction
- Unify with uplifting, two way communication
Positive Leadership is all about being constructive and uplifting, using an optimistic, solution oriented focus to work together towards conquering challenges and enriching the lives of everyone involved.
Great leaders don’t just complete tasks, they actually improve the lives of everyone they interact with - especially the group of people they have accepted responsibility for. This is where many ‘bosses’ fall flat. They see the people on their team as just tools to accomplish a task - something to be used, worn out, and discarded as a consumable. I’ve worked for that boss before - someone who thought their employees were completely interchangeable. That does not scale nor does it produce the best results.
The best leaders create environments where people thrive, allowing them to do their best work.
The rest of the article is WIP as I write about each of the principals. The hardest part of writing is making it shorter, especially when I have a lot of thoughts on all these topics.