Leading to Grow and Growing to Lead: Some Lessons from Positive Organizational Scholarship The purpose of this paper is to use the lens of Positive Organizational Scholarship (POS) to offer new insights to how to grow leaders. We reframe the “Assess/Challenge/Support” model of leadership development created by the Center for Creative Leadership through a POS perspective. In leadership development, the CCL model is typically implemented by (1) focusing on performance gaps, (2) closing the gaps by introducing discomforting challenges, and (3) having the organization provide formal support (e.g., through mentoring). A POS perspective, drawn from recent research on thriving (or growing) at work, takes a complementary but unique approach by (1) leveraging strengths instead of gaps, (2) providing challenges through positive jolts rather than hardships, and (3) co-creating support through the development of microcommunities. We suggest that this complementary approach can create healthy and sustainable growth because it creates high energy and learning. We close the paper by recognizing some of the complications in taking a POS approach to growing leaders.

download this journal with click link below