POSITIVE ATTITUDE: THE PRIMER OF LEADERSHIP INFLUENCE

Leadership is not a position of authority, rather, it’s the authority of positioning. This implies that wherever an individual might be located in the organogram, he or she can exhibit the very essential leadership quality called INFLUENCE. Taking a broader view of the subject of leadership, it will be revealed that the coordinates of the authority of positioning of a leader for influence (in any entrepreneurial organization) is not fixated to the first tier of the organization pyramid alone. In fact, anyone with a positive attitude will have a wealth of social proof, and a better chance of easily influencing people around them for the attainment of a group goal.

The primer of leadership influence for a leader or a potential leadership candidates is called “positive attitude.” With a positive attitude, a leader develops an internal locus-of-control and a pull force-factor to easily attract, assemble, and enlist the strengths of his team members while compensating for the short-comings or weaknesses of individual team members. A positive attitude as a primer of leadership influence is the basis for the geometric output recorded from the arithmetic input of team members’ efforts. This implies that it is only when a positive attitude has become a culture of a team and its leadership that everyone in the team can truly achieve more than their individual efforts put together. 

So what is an attitude?

“An ATTITUDE is a mental and neural state of readiness, organized through experience, exerting a directive and dynamic influence upon the individual’s response to all objects and situations with which it is related.” -       G.W. ALLPORT (The nature of personality)

Attitude as broadly defined above is a mental set that causes a person to respond in a characteristic manner to a given stimulus. There is a common saying that “Being positive in a negative situation is not na?ve. It is leadership.” As humans, there will always be moments of doubts, as well as the obvious chances that one meets with a few people with negative attitudes who will attempt to persuade one to think as they do, mostly in workplaces, teams, association, groups, committees, etc.

As a leader of teams and any other assembly of people with diversity, the very first coordinate in the field of leadership where influence is cultivated, processed, packaged and delivered is POSITIVE ATTITUDE. In order to become successful in life, career, and business, an entrepreneurial leader must become a multi-dimensional character with a positive attitude for influence.

There are lots of competitive edges that centers around an enterprise with a culture of positive attitudes. Positive attitude is an excellent start and a prime-mover for every Small Business that wants to grow and deliver exceptional value experience in customer service.

Leaders with positive attitudes are usually more energetic and highly self-motivated, productive and alert to every limiting forces confronting their teams. As a means to prevent energy drainage in their teams, successful leaders and leadership candidates think less about negativity and resistance, and open their gates of positive attitudes to allow a seamless outflow of inner enthusiasm.

In today’s highly globalized and interconnected business world, team members in a progressive and entrepreneurial business environment tend to have their radar sets tuned in to the attitude of their leaders and team members. If the attitude of a leader is positive, it will attract a friendly, warm signal from his team members and across the organizational structure. This is to say that the positive attitude of a leader remains an active element in the make-up of his leadership influence.

In an entrepreneurial organization, an employee with a positive attitude do not only perform excellently well when it comes to creating relationships as in customer service, they also contribute to the productivity of other employees within their circle-of-influence. Because attitudes are caught more than they are taught, both positive and negative attitudes are transmitted and are easily picked up by others. Since a leader is the focal point of his team, as well as the center of his circle-of-influence, he/she cannot afford to become the rotten apple in the barrel that will spoil the positive attitudes of others. To maintain a high level of productivity, a leader must persistently maintain a positive attitude even in the face of challenges, problems and dilemma that might be rocking the boat of their teams.

A leader with a positive attitude is fun to be with, and his/her team members will be more attracted to the positive vibes of motivation, inspiration, values, and excitements they radiate. It is the positive attitude of a leader that creates the atmosphere of excitements at workplace. It is also responsible for building the sense of inclusion and team spirit needed in teams. A leader with positive attitude draws everyone on board (i.e. ensuring that every team member is in the middle of things and not on the outside complaining), making the job and the workplace more interesting for everyone.

Management hire for attitude and train for aptitude. This implies that the kind of attitude that a team lead transmits to management will have a resultant effect on the future success of the leader. Every management is poised toward constantly reading the mental attitude of their team leads. How a leader approaches his job, reacts to directives, handle problems, and work with other in the team are simple barometers used by management to assess and profile a leader or a potential leadership candidate. As a norm, a leadership candidate with positive attitude but lesser technical competencies are preferred and considered for special assignments and promotions opportunities to the seemingly skillful, knowledgeable and highly competent candidate with attitude issues.

Since businesses exist to seek and solve the articulated pains (i.e. the expressed, known, obvious, or stated needs), and unarticulated pains (i.e. the unknown, latent, hidden needs) of the customers, building a warn and positive relationship with the customer, client, or patients as the case may be is a vital sign for entrepreneurial leaders that want to be successful in today’s business world that favours economy-of-value over economy-of-scale.

Attitude is a very personal thing, and today’s customers, clients, and/or patients are all looking for highly personalized or customized experience, solutions and value offerings that speaks to them in a very unique way. The abilities of today’s business leaders to maintain positive attitude and drive their teams along the path of positivity is a primer for leadership influence.

Ayodeji Onabanjo, MNSE, R.Engr

Influencer @ AyodejiOnabanjoOnline

www.powernugget.com