Leadership with impact: the role of positive psychology in achieving success

What is positive psychology?

Positive psychology is a relatively new branch within psychology. The term ‘positive psychology’ has a nice ring to it, but what exactly does it entail? This branch of psychology focuses on reinforcing what is already going well. Instead of focusing on what is less than ideal, positive psychology is actually about leveraging your strengths and making these strengths even stronger. So positive psychology is all about optimising; making things that are already good even better. In this way, positive psychology can contribute to greater job satisfaction or better performance, for instance. When it comes to leadership, positive psychology can also contribute to successful leadership. But which characteristics, according to positive psychology, can contribute to successful leadership and the development of the right leadership skills?

The importance of positive psychology for successful leadership

Positive psychology can be used to reinforce the positive aspects of leadership and thus develop the leadership skills which are essential for successful leadership. Examples include analysing the strengths of the team and the leader so that they can be maximised and creating a positive working environment. It also means encouraging the personal development and growth of employees, as well as the leader himself.

The characteristics of positive psychology

There are a number of characteristics of positive psychology that are important for successful leadership.

• Characteristic 1: Resilience

An important aspect related to successful leadership, approached from the perspective of positive psychology, is resilience. Resilience means being able to recover quickly from a setback or from a stressful situation. As a leader, it is important to be resilient and be able to deal with sudden changes or setbacks. In the world we currently live in, things change quickly, which brings unique challenges for leaders. It is therefore important for them to be able to adapt quickly and to include team members in this and ensure that they are also resilient.

• Characteristic 2: Optimism

Optimism is also an important characteristic for successful leadership from the perspective of positive psychology. As a leader, it is important to approach challenges and problems with a positive outlook and to be able to see these challenges or problems as opportunities. As a leader, it is important to convey your optimistic outlook and way of thinking to your team and encourage your team to approach challenges or problems as opportunities. In this way, leaders can get the most out of themselves, the team and the situation to achieve the desired goals.

• Characteristic 3: Growth mindset

Having a ‘growth mindset’ is an important aspect of positive psychology and is important for successful leadership. A growth mindset means that you believe there is always room for development and learning. This means that Leaders with a growth mindset believe that there is always room for growth and development, not only when it comes to their own leadership skills, but also those of the team. It is important for leaders to be able to convey this growth mindset to their team in order to make everyone aware that there is always room for development. It’s best to not see making mistakes as something negative, but as an opportunity to learn and grow as a team and as individuals.

​​Working on your leadership skills with insights from positive psychology

By using certain elements from positive psychology, leaders can develop their leadership skills and create a positive working environment for employees, allowing them to get the most out of the team and their leadership. Below is a brief summary of three elements, along with an exercise that can help promote the relevant insight to further develop your leadership skills.

Flexibility during change

It is important for leaders to be resilient and able to deal with sudden changes or setbacks, and convey this to the team.​ An exercise for leaders that can help develop resilience is to accept change and learn from setbacks. Resilient leaders are flexible and accept that change and setbacks are part of the package. Analyse what has happened and identify learning points to improve as individuals and as a team. Embrace change instead of trying to fight against it and see change and setbacks as an opportunity for growth and development, both for yourself and your team.

Team optimist

It is important for leaders to have an optimistic outlook and see problems or challenges as an opportunity, and be able to convey this optimism to the team.​ One exercise for leaders that can help develop optimism, is giving positive feedback and social support. Give regular positive feedback to your team members and highlight their strengths and achievements. This fosters a positive atmosphere within the team and encourages optimism. It is also important to provide social support and to encourage team members to seek the support of positive and supportive people. Collaborating and communicating with team members who are optimistic can strengthen your own optimism.

Being interested in growth matters

It is important to have a ‘growth mindset’ as a leader; seeing mistakes or setbacks as something positive by seeing them as an opportunity to grow and develop. An exercise for leaders that can aid in promoting a growth mindset is reflection and being open to feedback. It is important to regularly reflect on your experiences, both the good and bad experiences. In doing so, you identify learnings and think about how you can apply them in the future. Being open to feedback from others and seeing this as a valuable source of growth is crucial here; use this to develop yourself and the team.

• Also read‘Successful leadership: the psychological keys to effective leadership’.

Being interested in growth matters

Start developing effective and positive leadership skills​

Work on your leadership skills by using positive psychology. Develop yourself as a leader to get more out of yourself and your team with our tailor-made training courses for personal leadership, leadership and teams or for leadership within the entire organisation.