Overview
This article examines succession planning, its proven benefits, and case studies from Apple and Johnson & Johnson. It highlights the importance of building fair and transparent policies, clarifies the distinction between succession and contingency planning, and offers steps for developing talent pipelines. The focus is on retention, engagement, and ensuring organisational resilience over the long term.
Introduction
The psychology of leadership fascinates me, and no more so than when leaders have a positive influence on their teams. You may not class yourself as a leader, but you are a leader, whether you’re leading a team, a family or even yourself. In your role, as a leader, the energy you emit is vital and cannot fail to affect yourself and others.
Positive psychology sounds like another fad for those of us chronic doomsayers, just plain “Pollyanna”. We all know the world we see has positive and negative energy. The question I have been asked on occasion is, “By being positive, aren’t we just lying to ourselves?” Another concern centres on being authentic. ”Surely being positive constantly can’t be genuine, because bad things happen”.
Be A Force For Good
I believe you can be a positive force in all types of situations. When I used to talk about leadership in groups, invariably, horrific people like Hitler came up as an example of the ability to harness the support of many people, even if their intent was evil. However, I believe authentic leadership exists when the purpose is a force for good. Otherwise, you are just exercising the art of manipulating others for your agenda. If you want to lead people in the right direction, here are seven uncommon ways you can be a positive influence on yourself and others.
7 Ways To Be A Good Influence
1. Respond instead of reacting
Someone says something negative about you or something you value. Immediately, you want to give a stinging reply, rush to your defence or complain to others. Worse, you take the criticism on board. Haven’t we all been in that situation? Pausing to regain your composure and objectivity in such situations is vital before you reply. Pausing to think allows you to respond instead. Responding instead of reacting means you take the emotional charge out of the situation, incident or problem. It is an excellent opportunity to turn towards positivity and win-win.
2. Remain neutral and objective
Life is indeed difficult. There are good times and bad. Leading with positive influence means navigating your way through the peaks and troughs with hope and optimism. When the facts, which present themselves, seem daunting, then you will command a positive influence if you remain neutral and objective as opposed to blaming, emotional and subjective.
3. Own your emotions
Being a positive force doesn’t mean you have to deny your own negative emotions; it means acknowledging and working through them to heal. Too often, people blame others for how they feel, but everyone’s emotions are their own. No one can make anyone else feel anything. Owning your feelings means you do not make anyone else responsible for you. It also means the power is in your hands, to take any situation, look on the bright side and change how you feel.
4. Be glad for others
Being pleased for others is quite easy for most of us. It’s great to see people doing well. Showing you’re gso happy means actively helping them to celebrate their successes. When someone gets that qualification or loses that 6lb, find a way to help them celebrate. Buy a bunch of flowers or send that card, or take the time to drop an email, pop your head around the door and tell them “Well done”. Too often in our fast-paced lives, even though we may be glad for others, we fall short of showing who we are.
5. Help people find their strength
When people’s lives are in the troughs rather than the peaks, then it’s time to concentrate on their strengths, and everyone has some strengths. The trick here is to feel compassion for how they think and to be there for them, but not to join in with blaming others, cultivating a victim mentality, or disempowering them from their inner coping mechanism. It is through painful situations that people have an opportunity to find their strength, and a positive influence knows and gently encourages this.
6. Choose happiness
Happiness is a choice. Every piece of information you process can be interpreted in a million ways. If you interpret the information in a way that makes you sad, then it’s simply a choice you have made. Things happening around you do not determine your state; only you do. You have the choice, why not choose happiness instead? People who choose to be happy are a joy to be around. They raise energy and spirits, which can only have a positive influence on those around them.
7. Intend your day
When you know you have a tricky meeting or a difficult time ahead, then it’s time to begin preparing your day. Making your day’s meeting or event extremely powerful is extremely powerful. Instead of worrying about the content, think about the outcome. For example, you may have a difficult meeting with your boss. Imagine it will be positive despite the difficulties, and imagine yourself feeling pleased that you handled it so well. You will be amazed at the difference that intending positive outcomes can make. When you intend significant and positive outcomes day to day, then your energy has a great impact on everyone around you.
Are you a positive influence today?
