Effective feedback processes act like oxygen for the vitality of organizations. Especially agile organizations require cooperative leadership and resilient team structures. However, many teams and leaders shy away from feedback, particularly when they believe they must deliver or receive “difficult messages.” Deficit-oriented evaluation standards often contribute to feedback discussions and 360°feedback processes in the practice of many institutions and companies missing the point, being avoided, or even feared. The Positive Leadership approach demonstrates evidence-based ways in which the appreciative principles of PERMA-Lead can increase team satisfaction, motivation, and thus productivity.

In this SOCIUS labor, we want to get to the bottom of the beliefs behind good leadership:

• Why is leadership based on “Facts, Force, Fear” an outdated model, even if it is still sad practice in many organizations?
• Isn’t it the task of leadership to also clearly address problems and say what isn’t working well?
• Doesn’t Positive Leadership risk fostering an atmosphere of forced harmony, where nothing critical can be addressed, and every failure is glossed over as a success?
• And how can 360°feedback, in particular, help make it more difficult for narcissists to rise in organizations?

In a mix of dialogical reflection, small practical exercises, and methodological inputs, Carolin Gebel will provide us with a brief introduction to working with Positive Leadership and share practical experiences with the PERMA-Lead model: How can the principles of Positive Leadership be made tangible? How can behavioral changes in the spirit of Positive Leadership be promoted and measured with the PERMA-Lead model? What added value can tools like the PERMA-Lead Profiler and PERMA-Lead 360° Feedback bring? And what are the limits of this approach?