The Benefits of Positive Organisations

Have you ever listened to a talk or lecture and thought, "Wow, that makes so much sense!"? That's exactly how I felt when I heard Kim Ross speak on Positive Organisations. His insights resonated deeply with the challenges I see clients facing, and they aligned with my own experiences as a People Director. I was eager to learn more, so I explored an excellent article in HBR titled “The Best Leaders Have a Contagious Positive Energy” by Emma Seppälä and Kim Cameron, published in April 2022.

Here are my top 8 takeaways:

1. Positive Relational Energy as the Key to Leadership Success: The greatest predictor of successful leadership isn't charisma or power, but positive relational energy — the uplifting energy exchanged between people.

2. The Role of Positive Energisers: Positive energisers are individuals at the centre of networks who uplift others through values-based leadership, leading to extraordinary performance and well-being within organisations.

3. Impact of Positive Relational Energy: Leaders who harness positive relational energy boost engagement, reduce turnover, and enhance employee well-being, resulting in significantly higher organisational performance.

4. Physical vs. Relational Energy: Unlike physical, mental, or emotional energy, which diminishes with use, positive relational energy grows with use, creating a self-reinforcing cycle of uplift and motivation.

5. Empirical Evidence: Studies show that organisations with positive energizers outperform industry averages in profitability, productivity, innovation, and employee satisfaction.

6. The Heliotropic Effect in Leadership: Just as plants grow toward light, people naturally gravitate toward and thrive in the presence of positive relational energy, which nourishes and revitalizes them.

7. Reciprocal Nature of Positive Energy: Positive energizers create networks of energy that boost overall organizational vitality, with each positive interaction further energizing the network.

8. Long-Term vs. Short-Term Success: While organizations can succeed temporarily under de-energizing leaders, long-term success is sustained by leaders who generate positive relational energy.

If you're interested in learning more about your personal energizers and de-energizers, try the following exercise:

• List the people you interact with most often. For each person, note whether working or communicating with them energizes or de-energizes you.

• Then consider the reverse scenario — do you think they are energized or de-energized when working with you? Write your thoughts alongside each name.

• Can you identify any meaningful themes or patterns? Consider how you can work more often with energizers and if there’s any way to improve your communications with de-energizers.

• Decide on a couple of actions you want to try to build energy in your network and test them out this week.

In today's context, where employee retention is critical, the ability to generate positive relational energy is a crucial factor for leaders to inspire and retain talent. This is a game-changer that organizations need to focus on!

The Best Leaders Have a Contagious Positive Energy (hbr.org)