Transformational Leadership: Inspiring Motivation Utilizing Advances in Positive Psychology and Sports Performance Author: Student Sandra Dunn, [email protected]Accepted: December 18 2015 Abstract A high performance Cyber Security team is essential for today’s successful and profitable enterprise business navigating through an increasingly difficult and dangerous internet. These teams need a strong leader who embraces the role as a Transformational Leader and uses its four foundational components: Idealized Influence, Intellectual Stimulation, Individualized Consideration and Inspirational Motivation to successfully manage the team. There are substantial financial benefits for business’s that invest and embed Inspirational Motivation into their culture. Inspirational Motivation increases profits, accelerates creativity, engages employees more deeply, and employee sick days and turnover are reduced. Companies such as Adobe, Microsoft, Patagonia, and Toyota are looking beyond the traditional methods of inspiring employees to new visionary approaches from Flow research in extreme athletes, advances in performance sports coaching, and new positive psychology discoveries. The required business investment to benefit from these new Inspirational Motivation approaches is simply a determined optimism that
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Transformational Leadership: Inspiring Motivation Utilizing Advances in Positive Psychology and
A high performance Cyber Security team is essential for today’s successful and profitable enterprise business navigating through an increasingly difficult and dangerous internet. These teams need a strong leader who embraces the role as a Transformational Leader and uses its four foundational components: Idealized Influence, Intellectual Stimulation, Individualized Consideration and Inspirational Motivation to successfully manage the team. There are substantial financial benefits for business’s that invest and embed Inspirational Motivation into their culture. Inspirational Motivation increases profits, accelerates creativity, engages employees more deeply, and employee sick days and turnover are reduced.
Companies such as Adobe, Microsoft, Patagonia, and Toyota are looking beyond the traditional methods of inspiring employees to new visionary approaches from Flow research in extreme athletes, advances in performance sports coaching, and new positive psychology discoveries. The required business investment to benefit from these new Inspirational Motivation approaches is simply a determined optimism that anything is possible, a positive, thankful attitude and a Relentless Solution Focus.
1. Introduction
The Transformational Leaders role is critical to the success of the business. It’s
unthinkable that a group of even the most talented football players could win a Super
Bowl without a strong coach. The same is true for business; amazing people need an
amazing leader.
Inspirational Motivation Utilizing Advances in Positive Psychology and Sports Performance 2
Abraham Maslow, James MacGregor Burns, and Bernard Bass provided pioneering
research on human motivation, Transformational Leadership, and amazing leadership.
Their work has been pivotal for businesses to understand the different types of leadership,
what characteristics to look for, and what makes a great leader.
1.1. Self-Actualization and Flow
In 1943 Abraham Maslow’s paper “A Theory of Human Motivation” he provided
an unprecedented theory of human motivation describing a five level hierarchy of needs
that change as each previous level is met. The first basic level includes physiological
needs such as food, water, and sleep. Each level adds more psychological needs as
physical needs are met. The most advanced fifth level includes the most complex
psychological need of self-actualization. Self-actualization refers to the internal drive
people feel to meet their full potential, "What a man can be, he must be” (Maslow, 1954,
p.93). Maslow was the first to write about “Peak Experiences” a state he described as
“rare, exciting, oceanic, deeply moving, exhilarating, elevating experiences that generate
an advanced form of perceiving reality, and are even mystic and magical in their effect
upon the experimenter” (Maslow, 1964). People that reach the highest level in Maslow’s
hierarchy of self-actualization often experience the euphoria of a Peak Experience.
Another twentieth century positive psychologist Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi, who studies
the meaning of life and happiness, gave a different name to Peak Experiences calling it
“Flow”. Their research identified an intrinsic value for goals and motivation that
provided an internal reward and was separate from an extrinsic or external reward.
Czikszentmihalyi described Flow as, “a state in which people are so involved in an
activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience is so enjoyable that people will
continue to do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it“(Cskikszentmihalyi,
Inspirational Motivation Utilizing Advances in Positive Psychology and Sports Performance 12
task and have a no laptop / phone policy.
Clear goals / shared clear goals Confirm employees clearly understand the goal, their goal, and how it connects to the company vision.
Group Flow can provide exponential results for creativity and problem solving leveraging the combined higher focus state.
Increase goal difficulty by about 4% to achieve the Flow state but to avoid the panic state.
Immediate feedback / shared communication / close listening / familiarity / positive motion
Immediate feedback reinforces that the goal is on track. If a rock climber thinks they have enough strength to hang onto a ledge but falls, it is immediate feedback they either need to choose a different direction or need to lift weights to be stronger. A Transformational Manager leveraging Flow uses immediate feedback by understanding that meeting weekly for 15 minutes is much more effective than meeting for an hour monthly.
It is essential, especially in group Flow, to listen closely to people and that the conversation moves forward in a positive direction. Conversations should be additive, not argumentative.
Group Flow needs familiarity. It provides a common language and immediate understanding for forward momentum. Group Flow is seen when a champion NBA team or an orchestra that has played together for a long time perform almost as if they are a single breathing entity.
Challenge to skill ratio / equal participation Use the rubber band theory to expand goals but to not overstretch or break the employees trying to achieve them. Flow happens right above the comfort zone but beneath the panic anxiety line.
Group Flow is achieved when people are at the same skill and have the same
Inspirational Motivation Utilizing Advances in Positive Psychology and Sports Performance 13
role level. If there is an unequal role authority or newbie to advanced skill level there is a misappropriate weighting and Flow rarely happens.
High consequences / risk For an extreme athlete, this often involves bodily harm. In a work environment, it could be committing to being open about how you really feel about the interface for the new project.
Risk / to Gain ratio innovation is fear driven. Having skin (actual skin or reputation other similar loss) motivates synapses.
“Fail forward.” If employees have the space to fail, then they have the ability to take risks and find Flow for the next great idea.
Rich environment / deep embodiment, sense of control novelty, unpredictability complexity, and creativity.
Seek out complexity, open employees mind’s to think about stars, have them contemplate ancient Greeks accomplishment in math, or look at Hong Kong on Google Maps. The idea is to use complexity to spark their own big ideas.
Spark creativity by having people thing about big ideas. Open a meeting with a twenty minute discussion on how to create a universal alphabet or a brain storming session on solving a long existing security challenge like BYOD.
A deep embodiment involves turning off the filter, no mental debate on whether to keep or toss the information it’s just absorbed.
Extreme athletes use risk to spark creativity, but less extreme ways are simple things like choosing a different way to drive home from work, brushing your teeth with the wrong hand, or trying something completely new.
Inspirational Motivation Utilizing Advances in Positive Psychology and Sports Performance 15
The important thing is that it is in a form that can be written in daily. This one simple step
makes the likelihood of achieving the goal nine times more likely (Wilson, Kohl, 1997).
Example of Daily Success Log (Selk, 2012)
Employee Name Success Log
Date / /
1. What three things did I do well today?
2. What is the number one most needed improvement for tomorrow?
3. What is the one thing I can do differently to help make the needed improvements?
4. On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being total completion of each process goal), how well did I do today with the completion of my priority 1 process goals?1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
5. On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being total completion of each process goal), how well did I do today with the completion of my priority 2 process goals?1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Inspirational Motivation Utilizing Advances in Positive Psychology and Sports Performance 16
6. On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being total completion of each process goal), how well did I do today with the completion of my priority 1 process goals?1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
5.4. Quarterly Evaluations
Once a quarter a Transformational Manager should compare a summary of the daily
process goals. Important items to track are:
Is the employee on target to meet their product goal?
How well did the person do from quarter to quarter?
Are there any areas where you could stretch and add more challenge?
Capture feedback from the employee on the daily process goal activity. Do they feel
more productive? Has it improved their job satisfaction? Look for any areas that need
adjusting. Transformational Leadership recognizes the uniqueness of each individual and
the need to be flexible and finding the best solution that fits them. Something that works
extremely well for one person may not be the right mentoring tool for the next person, so
be willing to adjust.
5.5. The Importance of Optimism
Optimism is believing you can. Optimistic people use hope and confidence to find
a solution instead of focusing on the problem. A simple shift and a rewiring of thoughts
and communication can provide an immediate infusion of optimism.
The natural human tendency is to focus on negative problems and immediately
see what is risky, wrong, or harmful. People talk about how hot it is on a warm sunny
day, not how beautiful it is or the amazing sunshine is. Compliment someone on their
new car and they will likely mention the large car payment, and how they don’t make
cars like they used to. It’s rare for someone to mention how wonderful the roads were on
their way to work, it’s much more common to hear about their horrible daily commute.
It’s possible this default human nature to see the problems was tied to survival when the
Inspirational Motivation Utilizing Advances in Positive Psychology and Sports Performance 17
things that could harm or kill people had a significantly higher number of outcomes, and
daily survival depended on identifying them before they could. Like many of the tools
from prehistoric history, it is not suitable for surviving current threats and its left people
with a natural tendency for what Selk calls Problem Centered Thinking (Selk, 2012).
Problem Centered Thinking (PCT) focuses on the problem. Relentless Solution
Focus (RSF) is the exact opposite of PCT, and it’s the key to building optimistic teams.
RSF asks, “What can I do to make this better?” A complete solution to a problem is
rarely apparent but focus on the +1 action. +1 is any action that takes a problem one step
toward a solution. Enough +1 and the complete solution is made apparent (Selk, 2012).
Actively commit to RSF and build RSF into leadership thinking and your team’s
thinking. Once I recognized the second nature of PCT thinking and started thinking in
RSF the biggest surprise to me was how much happier I was. I had managed the parallel
shift in thinking; I no longer had problems I had unknown solutions. RSF thinking is a
skill and requires a daily commitment.
5.6. Develop Relentless Solution Focus
Actively practice RSF Thinking. Whenever your mind drifts to a problem within 60 seconds replace all PCT thinking with RSF thinking.
Transformational Managers should Reinforce RSF thinking when interacting with their employees. When employees come to them with “problems”, encourage them to provide the +1 solution.
Make RSF mandatory throughout your sphere of influence.
For engagements with upper staff state the priorities, why they are the priorities and the necessary solutions.
Require emails, reports, and presentations on the security area your team is responsible for stating clearly what the priority is, what the proposed solutions are, and the risk associated with either accepting or not accepting the solutions.
Inspirational Motivation Utilizing Advances in Positive Psychology and Sports Performance 18
Have zero tolerance policy for fear mongering.
Make RSF thinking a team habit. Post “What is the one thing I can do differently to make this situation better” in the team meeting room, on the first slide for the team meeting and on the last slide.
Have RSF stickers or labels made for everyone on your team.
Post RSF sayings it in the bathrooms or coffee area.
Exercise RSF thinking Next time a co-worker, friend, or relative brings up something negative or complains ask, “Do you have ideas on a solution for that problem?
Places of congregation like the water cooler or standing in line at the grocery store naturally gravitate toward negative events. PCT thinking is contagious, and there is a constant fight to stay in the RSF zone. Purposely limit the exposure to PCT so that energy and mental resources stay in RSF.
Track RSF state in the daily success journal. Track RSF, prioritizes making it a well developed strength.
5.7. Emphasize the Start
Selk coaches Emphasize the Start (ETS) (Selk, 2012). Most of us are familiar with
ready, set, hesitate of goals. You know you will be happy if you get up and run but just
thinking about it makes you curl up and hit the snooze button one more time. The small,
simple mental change of (ETS) gets past the hesitate hump of productivity. Selk coaches
just to think about how to get started. Instead of thinking about the whole run, think about
getting your shoes on and out the door. Instead of thinking about writing the whole paper,
think about the next sentence. Instead of thinking about the huge pile of dishes, think
about filling the sink. Transformational Managers should monitor where employees are
Inspirational Motivation Utilizing Advances in Positive Psychology and Sports Performance 20
stressed and unhappy people. Achor’s research found that instead of success making
people happy, it’s happy people that see the opportunities to be successful.
Prioritizing on a positive and happy work place should not be viewed as a
suggestion to ignore negative information or events. Being authentic is a critical
component of building a happy business culture, bad things will happen, and there will be
bad days. Both negative and positive business cultures will have similar events; the
important difference is how those events are faced.
The manager - employee relationship is the single most important relationship
that is cultivated at work and has the most impact on how happy or unhappy an employee
is at work. A Transformational manager who actively incorporates positive daily actions
and encourages similar acts in their employees can cause a ripple through the entire
company. Achor’s research showed that by actively looking for positive things and
people to write about the brain changes its pattern to look for the positive things in the
environment. He calls this the Tetris effect that happens when people continuously play
Tetris for several days. Even after they quit playing the actual game of Tetris their brain
continues to play and reports to them how to move buildings, cereal boxes, and bricks in
the wall for the next Tetris move. By actively tracking positive events, the brain actively
starts looking for them and prioritizes them over negative events (Achor, 2010).
6.1. The Happy Formula Principles
Happy Changing Mindset Actively change how activities are viewed. For example, instead of allowing negative thoughts about how walking down to the data center to physically inspect systems is a waste of time, think about it as an opportunity to burn a few calories and stretch your legs. This simple change can rewire brains with positive thoughts.
To encourage a positive mindset, have people rewrite their jobs in a job description that would encourage other people to apply for it. This exercise on a change in perspective often helps people see positive opportunities parts of their work
Understand the power of words. A Transformational Manager telling someone they
Inspirational Motivation Utilizing Advances in Positive Psychology and Sports Performance 21
expect a positive outcome and then providing positive encouragement is much more effective than “We’re all fired if you mess this up.”
Positive Brain Training For 21 days write down three new things that you are grateful for and encourage direct reports to do the same. At the next staff meeting reinforce that this is a daily activity and list the three things you wrote. At the next staff meeting ask someone to volunteer to read theirs.
Write and ask employees to write a brief description of a positive experience in the last 24 hours.
Write and ask employees to write one quick email in the morning thanking someone in their work support team for something that they appreciated or that helped them.
Fail Bouncing Forward Management of a significant failure is one of the biggest opportunities to drive positive change and live authentic positive values. If something negative happens regroup, use it as a learning opportunity, and be better next time. Draw clear lines of engagement and have a zero tolerance policy for the blame game.
If something failed because of an advanced idea or calculated risk, reinforce support for creative ideas but determine where the initial proposal missed.
Using Core Strengths Understanding people strengths and give them opportunities to use those strengths.
Remind them of those when they need positive encouragement and confidence to stretch or do a difficult task.
Free Character Strength Test: https://www.viacharacter.org/survey/account/register
Individualized Consideration and Inspirational Motivation, maximizes the team’s
effectiveness, contributes to each Cyber Security member’s job satisfaction and Cyber
Security team’s contribution to the business’s financial success.
Encouraging Inspirational Motivation using any or all of the listed suggestions and
techniques adapted from the study of Flow, Positive Psychology, and Professional Sports
Coaching can improve business performance. Equally important encouraging people to
find their Flow, focus on daily priorities, and to use a positive lens to view their reality
can improve employee’s personal lives and their impact on the greater community.
Shawn Achor inspires readers to think of think of the Chaos effect, “It has been said that
a single butterfly flapping its wings can create a hurricane halfway around the world….
Each one of us is like that butterfly. And each tiny move toward more positive mindset
can send ripples of positivity through our organizations, our families, and our
communities “(Achor, 2010, p.209).
8. References
Achor, Shawn, (2010). The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology that Fuel Success and Performance at Work. New York, NY: Crown Publishing Group
Inspirational Motivation Utilizing Advances in Positive Psychology and Sports Performance 23
Adams, Amy, (2014). Majority of U.S. Employees Not Engaged Despite Gains in 2014. Retrieved January 4, 2015 from gallup.com: http://www.gallup.com/poll/181289/majority-employees-not-engaged-despite-gains-2014.aspx
Bass, Bernard M. (1990). Transactional to Transformational Leadership: Learning to Share the Vision Organizational Dynamics,
Bass, Bernard M. (1985). Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ). Factor-analytic studies
Burns, M. MacGregor (1978). Leadership. New York, NY: Harper and Row
Corpu, (n.d.). Shown Achor’s 7 Principles of Positive Psychology: Retrieved January 4, 2016, from corpu.com http://corpu.com/wwwmedia/webinar/happiness_jobaid.pdf
Cranston, Susie, Keller, Scott (2013). Increasing the ‘meaning quotient’ of work. McKinsey Quarterly: Retrieved January 4, 2016, from mckinsey.com http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/organization/increasing_the_meaning_quotient_of_work
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York, NY: Harper and Row.
Maslow, H. Abraham, (1954). Motivation and Personality. New York, NY: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc.
Maslow, H. Abraham, (1964). Religions, Values and Peak-Experiences. New York, NY: Penguin Books
Kotler, Steven (2014). The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance. Seattle, WA: Amazon Publishing
Selk, Jason, (2011). Executive Toughness: The Mental-Training Program to Increase Your Leadership Performance: Columbus, OH: McGraw-Hill Education
Selk, Jason, (2012). Success-Logs: Retrieved January 4, 2016, from enhancedperformance.com http://enhancedperformanceinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Success-Logs.pdf
Wilson, Troy, Kohl, David (1997). Business Planning: A Roadmap for Success, Agricultural Marketing