I just wrote my Mom's eulogy so I have spent the last several days contemplating her legacy. It made me realize the true value of keeping legacy in mind every day- for each decision, each action, each time we interact with one another. It can be easy to lose sight of these truly important things in our fast-changing and complex world.

What will be your legacy? Mom was a teacher and grade-school librarian so her legacy was much more far-reaching than her immediate family and friends. One thing was clear to anyone whose life she touched, she always gave her best and expected the same of those she loved, cared about and watched over. Her grade-school students not only learned proper grammar and how to write a paper, they also learned discipline and respectful behavior. They learned to always do your best, try your hardest and make someone you love and respect proud. Those lessons are her enduring legacy, and for that I will always be grateful. I imagine the same is true for her students.

As a leader, what will your legacy be?

Labels: cultural capital, employee engagement, employee happiness, employee morale, ethics, future, happiness, leadership, leadership and trust, legacy

The Wall Street Journal ran an article titled Thinking Happy Thoughts at Work on January 27th. Reading the title alone, one might assume that the author, Sue Shellenbarger, sought to trivialize the Positive Psychology movement afoot in corporate America. But while Shellenbarger commented that “critics see Positive Psychology as a way for companies to improve morale while they continue to burden employees with the threat of layoffs and an ever increasing workload,” she then offered numerous reasons why the movement should be taken seriously.

Employee morale statistics have plummeted to record breaking lows in the wake of the economic downturn and massive layoffs. Practicing the tenants of Positive Psychology will not only support the enhancement of employee morale, but also support the resilience of the organization. Research has revealed that employees who are experiencing positive emotions are more creative, flexible and innovative. They are better able to see the big picture and are better corporate citizens.

The practice supports employees in focusing on what they can control versus things outside their control. Practitioners are encouraged to look for the silver-lining in events they might at one time have labeled as negative. Companies involved in the movement are creating change by focusing on what they want to create versus focusing on a problem.

The article provides testimony from employers who claim to have recognized greater resilience in their organizations due to the support of coaches and trainers who use Positive Psychology as the foundation for their work. The skills taught through the movement make employees and organizations better able to handle the natural ups and downs of corporate life.

Labels: employee coaching, employee happiness, positive psychology, Wall Street Journal

Leadership has many definitions. At Leadership Beyond Limits, we subscribe to the efficacy of transformational leadership as presented by Bass and Avolio (1994). This leadership definition implies that leaders lead followers to levels of higher morals. In addition, transformational leadership implies that the followers are better off with the four I's of:

1. Idealized influence - does the right thing for the right reason
2. Individualized consideration - treats each person as an individual and with care and compassion
3. Intellectual stimulation - offers employees stretch goals and encourages creativity and innovation
4. Inspirational motivation - lives from his/her values and inspires employees to build on the vision

I recently came across an excellent scholarly article that painstakingly researched the various definitions of leadership. The authors identified 92 discrete dimensions of leadership, along with a 93rd miscellaneous list of 20 more leadership characteristics. The authors believe that researchers, scholars, consultants, and leaders have helped create confusion around the definition of leadership in that we have examined the parts of leadership but not the whole. They draw on the story of the blind men describing the elephant and the different accurate descriptions that each blind man gave, yet each was insufficient to understand the whole.

The article is definitely worthwhile if you haven't yet read it, you can find it here:
http://www.regentuniversity.org/acad/global/publications/ijls/new/vol1iss2/winston_patterson.doc/winston_patterson.pdf

If you find that interesting, you will likely also appreciate their longer working paper, which includes the above analysis, along with a more in-depth discussion of servant leadership:
http://www.regent.edu/acad/global/publications/working/integrativedefinition.pdf

I admire the authors effort at creating an integrative definition of leadership, and appreciate their metaphor that reminds us that leadership is a large, complex animal.

Labels: cultural transformation, employee creativity, employee engagement, employee happiness, leadership, leadership development, transformational leadership, work excellence, workplace culture

Is employee happiness at the top of your leadership team's agenda? It will be. As the plethora of evidence mounts regarding the benefits of happiness in the workplace, astute companies are taking notice. What do they know that you don't? Read on.

Sonja Lyubomirsky, psychologist at the University of California has concluded that there are multiple personal benefits to happiness - too many to list in this blog, and there are a larger number of benefits related to the workplace. As compared to their not-so-happy counterparts, happy people are better corporate citizens. They take fewer sick days, receive better supervisor and customer evaluations, stay loyal to their employer longer, show more helpful behaviors and are more creative.

These benefits are simply too significant to ignore. When we spend eight plus hours a day in an environment, that environment has a significant impact on our overall well-being - another word for happiness. There are very specific things that organizations can do to create a culture that supports employee happiness, but the most important thing is developing engaging leaders, starting at the top. Our next blog will review the characterictics of transformational leaders - the most enaging leaders.

Creating workplaces where employees feel happy and fulfilled is the right thing to do and it is good for your business.

Labels: employee creativity, employee engagement, employee happiness, leadership, Sonja Lyubomirsky