How can leaders positively influence and impact others in the workplace?

Spearheading any successful organisation is a great leader, followed by an inspired team. The best leaders have a positive influence and impact on others in the workplace. But how do they achieve this? How can someone influence you in a positive way?

What is meant by positive leadership?

Positive leaders create a healthy culture and environment that retains performance and outcomes in the face of persistent challenges.

By creating a positive work environment built upon personal relationships, a leader can encourage their employees to want to work for them.

Top 5 traits of positive leaders and managers

How do you define positive influence? Positive influence is the impact you have on other people or yourself by pointing out your strength and virtues. Here are the top 5 traits of positive leaders and managers:

Charisma

A lot of the time an employee is not buying into the success or efficiency of the organisation, or how it operates. It is the charisma that taps into that emotional and compelling attractiveness of the leader.

These charismatic relationships are not built on legitimacy or logic but rather on the personal power of the leader. A charismatic leader tends to be a positive leader with impressive impact and influence skills.

Focuses on development

Positive leaders are highly characterised by the emotional and positive influence they utilise to encourage employees to be a better version of themselves than they were before their relations with the leader.

Progression and individual growth can considerably affect self-esteem, confidence and willingness to succeed. An inspired team is a successful team and this comes from the positive influence a leader has.

Role of mentor

The mentorship approach provides significant opportunities to foster personal growth in employees. Being in a position of influence, a leader should provide the advice and trust a credible mentor should.

This sense of being valued promotes less employee turnover and encourages them to stay at the organisation for a longer period. Most of the time when employee satisfaction levels are high, successful output also grows.

The ability to listen and learn

The most positively influential leaders are humans. They take time to listen to concerns and are willing to learn and grow themselves. Being able to connect to a leader’s interpersonal side is a comforting sign for any employee.

From a position of influence, creating things together and sharing responsibility are the things that make employees feel valued.

Honesty

Positive relations are built on trust. If you do not trust a leader, you will no longer be willing to cooperate with them. An honest leader will have a positive influence on their team.

It is common to see leading figures in our society losing trust. This then affects their credibility, popularity and sometimes their position. This is the same in any form of leadership.

Why must leaders and managers succeed at becoming a positive influence?

The ability to identify negative and positive influences on behaviour is important. A positive influence can encourage productivity, empowerment and high morale. A negative influence can promote deviance, poor output and a lack of trust.

If an organisation wants to operate successfully, it must foster a culture of positivity. And this comes from the leaders and managers.

5 Examples of positive leadership in the workplace

Roffey Park Institute’s 5 Ps of positive leadership are psychological safety, purpose, path, progress and people. These five principles are the core of living and executing positive influence.

Psychological safety

Psychological safety is the belief that you will not be punished, or humiliated, for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes. Psychological safety encourages an atmosphere that ensures team members will not be embarrassed or rejected when they speak up.

Purpose influence

Purpose refers to attaching meaning to your work beyond the act of just getting the job done. When employees see their work as being connected to a higher purpose, they are more likely to be positively engaged.

Path influence

Path focuses on having clarity on goals, resources, roles, timelines, and strategies. Path defines the ‘how’. Positive influence relies on giving clear expectations and directions.

Team members have no doubts about what is expected of them and what they can do to achieve their goals. They understand what tools are essential for delivering the best results and the time constraints that shape their tasks.

Progress influence

Progress relates to promoting a sense of value, growth, and development. This can be done in two ways:

• Showing appreciation, celebrating small and big wins, and nurturing a deep sense of positivity.
• Building good relationships with team members by providing support and feedback on performance to boost morale.

People influence

Those in a position of influence do not tend to get where they are without focussing on the people around them. Positive leaders base the focal point of their leadership style surrounding interactions, or relationships with others.

Focussing on people encourages the empowerment of the workforce through positive relationships and positive influence.

Can positive influence and impact in an organisation be measured?

It is tricky to measure happiness, trust and other non-quantifiable factors. It is easier to identify and measure employee growth, whether that be within their role, productivity and/or self-esteem and confidence.

Measuring positive influence means knowing your team. Take time to listen and reflect with your team, as a leader or manager. Being in a position of influence it is important that a leader understands their team, if they are happy or if there are concerns that need addressing. This is an effective way of measuring positive influence and impact within an organisation.