Leadership Less Important than Employee Connectedness

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Summary: Leadership may be less important for an organization's success than has been assumed.

-  A survey found employees would rather have tools and resources to get their jobs done than to be inspired by a leader.

A study of 1,000 employees conducted by the Communications for Executive Council has indicated the way employees feel about their leaders is less important for organizational performance than how connected they are to each other. The survey found that employee performance is impacted 1.6 times more by leaders who help employees connect, share information and facilitate decision-making at levels below the executive tier, than by leaders who try to inspire their employees with their personalities.

Over 75% of the employees surveyed said they would prefer to have leaders who helped them get things done by giving them tools and resources, rather than trying to inspire them.

Only 24% of the employees surveyed said they are inspired by their leaders. Just 31% said they feel their opinions are valued by their leaders and just 29% said their leaders provide reasons for their decisions.

A  different survey conducted by Jobsite.co.uk of 1,000 UK workers found having friends at work was the most important factor in job happiness for 70% of the respondents. This finding is consistent with what Zappos founder Tony Hsieh wrote in his book, Delivering Happiness. In Chapter 7, on page 234 he mentions that happiness doesn’t come as much from within as it does from between, meaning from the connections one enjoys with other people. Employee engagement has been found to be an important part of an organization's success.

 

Image Credit: Satbir Singh, Wiki Commons

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