The Research Hub
Dive
One pillar of the Positive Impact Hub ecosystem. Applied leadership research; evidence-based frameworks; the Positive Leadership Index.
In development
Leaders in this region keep asking whether the research they are handed was ever tested where they lead. Dive is the pillar being built to ask that question properly, in Qatar and the Gulf, and to put the answers to work.
Dive is one pillar of the Positive Impact Hub ecosystem: the research hub, and the place the ecosystem's intellectual authority is meant to come from. A great deal of the leadership material used in this region was developed elsewhere. Much of it travels well. Whether a particular framework holds in a Gulf organization is a question worth asking rather than assuming, and it is asked far less often than it should be.
Dive is built on a piece of work that asked it. Roberta's own qualitative study with twelve Qatari leaders, conducted for a Master of Applied Positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, examined how they make difficult decisions, seize opportunity and understand loyalty. It is a small study and it is described as one. It is also a rare piece of primary evidence in a context where very little exists, and it is one of the foundations the programs stand on.
Dive is being built to produce that kind of evidence continuously, to put it into the programs rather than into a repository, and to measure positive leadership in a way that can be compared over time. That measure is the Positive Leadership Index.
Evidence from here, for leaders here.
Research made where it is used
Most leadership evidence is produced elsewhere and imported. Dive is being built to run original studies in Qatar and the Gulf, qualitative and quantitative, so that what is taught here has been tested here.
Leadership intelligence for the GCC
Organizations and policymakers in the region have very little primary evidence on how leaders here decide, build loyalty and lead through change. Dive is built to become a trusted source of it.
Evidence, read carefully
Reviews of what the wider research actually shows, translated for people who have to act on it, with the limits stated plainly. Overstatement is the risk Dive guards against most.
The gap between research and practice
The intent is that findings go into Ascend programs, the Leadership Diagnostic and the other pillars, not into a drawer, and that recurring questions from the room come back as the next study.
Built to produce
Dive is in development. These are the outputs it is designed to produce, stated as intent rather than as things you can order today.
- 01
Original studies and white papers
Primary research with leaders and organizations in Qatar and the Gulf, described with the care a small study deserves.
- 02
Evidence reviews
What the research says on a question leaders are asking, and what it does not say.
- 03
Reports and indices
Including the Positive Leadership Index, a measure of positive leadership that can be compared over time.
- 04
Datasets
Held under clear ethics and data governance, so that later studies can build on earlier ones.
- 05
Practical tools
Research translated into instruments, frameworks and program material leaders can use.
Dive is in development. This is what stands behind it now, described as it is.
- The Qatar study: a qualitative study with twelve Qatari leaders on decision making, opportunity and loyalty, conducted for a Master of Applied Positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. It is one of the foundations the programs stand on.
- The measurement instruments: a set of published instruments, each credited to its authors, held for use alongside the confidential interviews inside the Leadership Diagnostic, to establish a baseline on hope, growth, emotional intelligence, connection, wellbeing and engagement.
- The Positive Leadership Index: named, and not yet built. It is the first thing Dive is being built to produce.
- Research partnerships: the pillar is open to them, and none is yet in place.
One ecosystem. Dive is one part of it.
With Ascend Institute
Dive's findings are meant to inform Ascend's Leadership Labs and programs. Recurring participant challenges travel the other way and become new research questions.
With Amplify
A research report becomes articles, commentary and executive briefings through Amplify, so that the evidence reaches people who were not in the room.
With Pulse, Rise and Gather
Dive supplies the evidence Pulse is designed to carry and, with Ascend, the knowledge Rise adapts for young people. Gather returns the qualitative insight and the questions that emerge among peers.
Research partnership interest
If your organization or institution would take part in a study, commission one, or bring a question worth asking about leadership in this region, book a short call.