Embedding Strengths-Based Leadership into Leadership Development Programs

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Issue Date
2014
Authors
Lee, Sylvia K.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
CreateSpace
Abstract
As leaders in business, education, health care, social work, agriculture, and many other fields direct their organizations within the context of constant and rapid change, their use of strengths-based leadership approaches can generate constructive organizational cultures and high levels of innovation, performance, and employee engagement. In contrast, continued use of the vastly more common deficit-based leadership tends to generate defensive organizational cultures and a focus on avoiding blame, maintaining the status quo, and minimizing risk, leading to low morale, low engagement, and mediocre performance. Strengths-based leadership approaches such as Appreciative Inquiry and Authentic Leadership provide leaders with practical ways to change beliefs and attitudes of themselves and others from a deficit paradigm to a strengths paradigm. Those who design and deliver leadership development programs have a moral imperative to help program participants build their strengths-based leadership knowledge and abilities, and can do so not only by teaching strengths-based leadership directly, but also by embedding strengths-based approaches into both program design and learning activities.
Description
Keywords
strengths-based leadership , leadership education
License
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States , openAccess
Citation