Positive Psychology at Work:

Summary

In this chapter we have considered the vexed questions of what good leadership is and how best to lead organizational change. It seems that good leadership resides in a basic moral goodness and authenticity, which, while more natural to some than others, can to some extent be developed. We have learnt that we must watch out for counterfeit authenticity. It seems that understanding strengths as well as weaknesses is a key aspect of good leadership, and that such self-awareness can facilitate the development of good followers, able to hold the leader to account. We have also learnt that it is not only who a leader is that is important in terms of his or her effectiveness, but also what they do. Some approaches to change are more effective than others with emergent change being the most effective. And there are four key behaviours that effective leaders demonstrate during large, emergent change situations. We noticed that much of the current literature on leadership, organizational change and strategy reflects a mistaken understanding of the nature of large organizations and that leaders in the field, such as Cameron and Cooperrider, are offering useful alternatives. Finally, we noted that large group change methodologies offer excellent guidance about how to offer positive leadership through emergent change.