ABSTRACT
Leaders play a pivotal role in creating the environment within which employees can engage with their work. There is a wealth of theoretical and empirical research that has demonstrated associations between strong leadership and a range of desirable outcomes such as high performance, commitment, creativity and well-being. In recent years, there has been a focus on engagement both as a valuable outcome of effective leadership and as a catalyst for other positive attitudes and behaviours. However, the processes by which leaders achieve engagement have received relatively little direct attention. This chapter will examine how leaders can stimulate and promote engagement by considering leaders as individuals embedded within a social organizational context, and leadership for engagement as a malleable process that can be enhanced through mindful interventions.
