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Leading high-performing teams in Tech requires flexible people management skills and an eye for individual needs of your team members. Positive leadership puts the team's wellbeing first, knowing that performance, productivity and collaboration come easier to teams that flourish.

Today, we review five books that invite the curious, people-centred leader in Tech on a learning journey about themselves and others, offering a mix of wellbeing theory and practical tools to apply a coaching leadership style to bring the best out of your teams.

Flourish by Martin Seligman

Written by one of the founding fathers of Positive Psychology, Flourish introduces you to the science behind a flourishing life. You will learn about the different dimensions that contribute to wellbeing and how to promote wellbeing in you and others. It’s written in an easy-to-follow style, making academic research easy to understand and apply to work and life. Click to order on Amazon:

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

The next must-read for the people managers in Tech is from the second founding father of Positive Psychology. Flow is the state of total focus and absorption in an engaging task, that has you forget all time and things around you. Experiencing moments of flow at work is one of the biggest factors for employee job satisfaction and motivation. Learn how to instil flow in your teams:

No hard feelings - Emotions at work by Liz & Mollie

I love this book by Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy, who you probably know from their funny illustrations about modern office life. In their first book, they walk us through relatable examples of how the core of the human experience at work can not be understood without understanding our emotions. This book is an important contribution to help break the stigma that we should leave our emotions at the (virtual) office door. It also offers an entry point to help translate the notion of ‘being authentic’ into something concrete and actionable. Order on Amazon:

Also check out their Instagram profile with all their illustrations.

Coaching Tools by Jonathan Passmore et al.

Bringing the best out of people is also about creating that space for them to learn, reflect and grow. Applying a coaching leadership style can help you create that space for your team to make them feel heard and seen and to empower your team members to make their own decisions.

Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a trained coach to be a good coaching leader! This brand new book offers 101 coaching tools and techniques by some of the best coaches in the industry to help you facilitate empowering and meaningful conversations with your staff. Each tool is described with a step-by-step guide, which makes it easy to follow and apply. Get your copy today:

Atomic Habits by James Clear

It had to get a place on this list - the book that has been read by millions and will have you analyse your daily routines at work and beyond. It is easy to follow, backed up by science and offers you an opportunity to not only make your own life easier but will also get you thinking about how you can make these tiny adjustments in your organisational processes and routines that will allow your team to become better at what they do. Ready to build some atomic habits?

What is your favourite book on your bookshelf? Share in the comments!