Effective Leadership Development with Positive Leadership
We develop leaders in ways that strengthen people, enable performance and shape change effectively. With evidence-based, scientifically grounded and highly practical in-house programmes, we support organisations in developing leadership sustainably — in ways that are human, effective and future-ready.
What Positive Leadership means to us
Positive Leadership is our core focus in leadership development. It translates the insights of Positive Psychology into everyday leadership practice and directs attention towards strengths, meaning, trust, development and successful collaboration. For us, Positive Leadership is an effective approach to shaping leadership in ways that are both human and high-performing. It meaningfully extends the leadership approaches you already use.
We also master the foundations of good leadership
Strong Positive Leadership programmes need a solid foundation. That is why, where appropriate, we also provide the fundamentals of leadership development: the role and attitude of the leader, communication, one-to-one conversations, delegation, conflict management, group processes and effective leadership in day-to-day practice. Positive Leadership builds on sound and established leadership approaches. It does not replace them; it complements them in meaningful ways.
Studies demonstrate the effectiveness of Positive Leadership training
A scientific field study by Frank Nesemann, unique in Germany to date, demonstrates the practical effectiveness of Positive Leadership: 129 leaders and employees at Jobcenter Berlin Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg took part in a Positive Leadership training programme comprising six training days over a period of six months. Thanks to its pre-post design and control group, the study allows the effects to be interpreted causally. The training significantly improved leadership behaviour and led to higher employee wellbeing as well as lower intentions to leave.
Our findings are supported by a wide body of further research: Studies on PERMA-Lead—particularly those conducted by and with Dr. Markus Ebner—show positive effects on well-being, burnout risk, and employee retention, among other factors.
Positive Leadership in practice: PERMA-Lead as the central model
For us, Positive Leadership is far more than a likeable leadership style. It is a scientifically grounded approach that aligns leadership in ways that allow people, teams and organisations to flourish. To ensure that Positive Leadership does not remain abstract in everyday leadership practice, we work in practical settings with the PERMA-Lead model.
PERMA-Lead is, for us, the central model for making Positive Leadership concrete, understandable and trainable. It translates the insights of Positive Psychology into observable and measurable leadership behaviour and shows how leaders can enable positive emotions, stimulate individual engagement, build strong relationships, convey meaning and make success visible in everyday working life.
This is precisely where we see the particular strength of PERMA-Lead: it makes Positive Leadership practically applicable, open to reflection in day-to-day leadership, and capable of being developed systematically within organisations.
The PERMA-Lead model translates Positive Leadership into five concrete, hands-on leadership dimensions.
What Positive Leadership with PERMA-Lead means in practice
- Positive Emotions enable
managers to create an atmosphere, in which confidence, appreciation, security and constructive energy can flourish. Positive emotions broaden thinking - and scope for action and support teams in doing so, more openly, more creatively and more solution-oriented to work. - Stimulating individual engagement
Positive Leadership activates strengths, fosters motivation and helps people contribute effectively through their abilities. As a result, leadership becomes less deficit-focused and more development-oriented. - Building strong Relationships
Good leadership creates trust, psychological safety and supportive working relationships. Strong relationships are a vital foundation for collaboration, connection and shared development. - Conveying the meaning of work
Positive leaders help employees understand why their work matters and what it contributes to. Meaning provides direction, strengthens identification and is especially valuable in times of change and uncertainty. - Accomplishment: Making success visible and celebrating it
Good leadership makes progress tangible, strengthens self-efficacy and acknowledges what has been achieved. In this way, motivation, enjoyment of learning and confidence are reinforced.
These five elements make Positive Leadership concrete. They show how leaders can help ensure that people do not merely function, but experience themselves as effective, connected and motivated in everyday working life.
Positive Leadership is trainable and measurable
For us, PERMA-Lead is not just a model for understanding leadership, but a model for training and implementation. It helps leaders reflect on their own behaviour in a focused way, develop it further and make Positive Leadership effective in everyday practice step by step.
At the same time, Positive Leadership based on PERMA-Lead can also be measured in scientifically grounded ways. With the PERMA-Lead Profiler and related assessment methods, the quality of leadership can be captured in a differentiated way and used for development processes. Positive Leadership is therefore not only described in inspiring terms, but can be worked on concretely and measured meaningfully within the organisation.
If you would like to develop Positive Leadership systematically within your organisation, we support you through in-house seminars, development programmes and, where appropriate, scientifically grounded tools such as the PERMA-Lead Profiler.
Experience Positive Leadership in practice
This video offers a concise insight into how we understand Positive Leadership and how we implement it in leadership development in practical ways. It shows how leadership can be shaped through Positive Leadership in ways that are more human, more effective and at the same time more workable in everyday practice.
Positive Leadership becomes especially effective when it does not remain abstract, but is lived, reflected upon and developed concretely in day-to-day leadership.
Our leadership development formats
Our main focus is on in-house seminars, development programmes and workshops for organisations. In addition, we also offer open programmes, masterclasses and in-depth formats.
- In-house leadership programmes
- Workshops zu Positive Leadership
- Open programmes and intensive training courses
- Keynotes and impulses
- Coaching and in-depth formats as complementary options
A complete overview of all formats can be found on our offers page. There, you can explore open programmes, in-house development programmes and complementary formats in a more targeted way.
Transformational Leadership
Transformational Leadership is an important complementary perspective on effective leadership. It describes how leaders can inspire people, provide direction, initiate development and make change possible. This leadership approach is especially relevant in times of change, uncertainty and transformation.
For us, Transformational Leadership does not stand in opposition to Positive Leadership. Rather, it meaningfully complements our approach. While Positive Leadership focuses more strongly on strengths, meaning, relationships and flourishing development, Transformational Leadership helps shape change, communicate vision and mobilise people.
Transformational Leadership complements Positive Leadership particularly where change, development and shared direction are central.
Psychological Capital
Another important building block of modern leadership is Psychological Capital. By this we mean inner resources that strengthen people in dealing constructively with challenges and in remaining capable of action even in difficult situations.
The 4 elements of Psychological Capital
- Self-efficacy – confidence in one’s own ability to master challenges
- Hope – the ability to pursue goals and find pathways towards them
- Optimism – a confident outlook on the future and on development
- Resilience – the ability to deal constructively with pressure and setbacks
Psychological Capital is especially valuable for leaders because it strengthens the inner foundation for clarity, confidence, learning capacity and sustainable leadership. In combination with Positive Leadership and PERMA-Lead, it creates an understanding of leadership that does not merely enable performance, but also strengthens people and makes change more manageable.
What Positive Leadership builds on
Positive Leadership does not unfold its effect in a vacuum. For leaders to lead positively, effectively and constructively, they need a solid foundation of core leadership skills. This is also pointed out explicitly in our book Positiv führt!: Positive Leadership builds on competencies that can be understood, practised and integrated into everyday behaviour.
Communication is the foundation of good leadership
One of the most important foundations of good leadership is communication. Leaders need the ability to communicate clearly, listen well, make goals understandable, clarify expectations, conduct difficult conversations constructively and stimulate development through thoughtful questions. Questions foster reflection, activate thinking and support sustainable participation.
In our seminars, we train:
- clear and appreciative communication
- active listening and genuine understanding
- constructive feedback and difficult conversations
- clarifying goals, roles and expectations in understandable ways
- addressing conflicts early, openly and with a solution focus
- using good questions to encourage development and participation
These core competencies often determine whether Positive Leadership becomes effective in everyday practice or remains at the level of good intentions. Leaders need tools that allow the impact of Positive Leadership to unfold every day, enabling them to move beyond their usual comfort zone.
Leading situationally and supporting people appropriately
For us, a strong leadership foundation also includes an understanding of situational leadership styles. Good leadership does not mean leading everyone in exactly the same way at all times. Leaders need to guide, instruct, involve or delegate responsibility differently depending on the situation, the person’s level of development, experience, the task at hand and their specific needs.
What situational leadership means in practice
- providing more direction for new or uncertain employees
- involving and engaging people more as their competence grows
- intentionally transferring responsibility to experienced employees
- shifting, depending on the situation, between clarity, support, dialogue and delegation
It is precisely this situational capability that makes leadership relevant and effective. Positive Leadership does not replace these fundamentals; it builds on them. Those who can lead situationally and at the same time work with Positive Leadership do not just lead more appropriately, but also in more developmental, motivating and human ways.
Trainable and effective
In our programmes, we place great value on ensuring that leadership is not only understood, but trained authentically. Communication, conversation skills, situational behaviour, feedback, role clarity and positive leadership impulses must become part of behaviour until they carry over into everyday leadership practice. That is precisely where the difference lies between mere knowledge and genuinely effective leadership development.
Leaders experience the inspiring effect themselves and can, with a clear transfer into practice, change their behaviour courageously and authentically.
Leading more successfully with Positive Leadership
This video provides a concise insight into how Positive Leadership works in practice and why it enables leaders to lead with greater clarity, effectiveness and humanity.
Positive Leadership becomes effective when leadership is lived, reflected upon and developed concretely in everyday practice.
Our specialist book on Positive Leadership
With our book “Positiv führt! Mit Positive Leadership Teams und Organisationen empowern”, we bring together our many years of experience from training, development programmes, workshops and consultancy with scientific grounding and concrete tools for effective leadership development.
The book has been written by practitioners for leaders and has been deliberately designed not only to convey background knowledge, but also to be directly useful in everyday leadership practice. It combines Positive Leadership with tried and tested practical approaches and makes visible how modern leadership can be shaped in ways that are human, effective and future-ready.
The book shows how Positive Leadership builds on solid foundations of good leadership and becomes effective in organisational life through models such as PERMA-Lead. A particular strength is its extensive practical section with concrete applications, exercises and impulses, which can also be used independently of the rest of the book. The book is complemented by a download area with additional materials that leaders and organisations can use directly for reflection, development and implementation.
In this way, scientific grounding becomes not an abstract concept, but concrete, everyday leadership development for organisations.
Let us talk about your leadership development programme
Would you like to embed Positive Leadership effectively in your organisation, redesign your leadership development, or plan a suitable in-house seminar? Then speak with us about your goals, your leadership culture and the next steps that make sense for you.
+49 (0) 30 893 77 950
kontakt@positivity-guides.de.