If you want employees to meet their deadlines, check in with their feelings first.
That’s the takeaway from a pair of new studies at Binghamton University, which found that people are most willing to work their butts off for bosses who combine compassion with clear goals.
In the first study, researchers looked at 1,000 members of the Taiwanese military, cross-referencing performance reviews of junior officers with those officers’ ratings of leadership styles in their units.
The scientists then created an experiment that tested those results on 181 full-time workers in the US, quizzing employees on which types of bosses would elicit the greatest level of effort.
The worst form of leadership was found to be authoritarian in nature, meaning managers overlook workers’ well-being and care only about rules and numbers.
Overly benevolent leadership wasn’t motivating, either. When managers focus mostly on employee happiness and fail to communicate business objectives, it turns out that not much gets done.
The most effective form of leadership was found to be a so-called paternalistic style (slightly sexist though the term may be), combining benevolence and authoritarianism.
Framed in terms of “The Office,” the ideal manager is neither a Michael Scott nor a Dwight Schrute, but instead some parental blend of both.
Good bosses, much like moms and dads, can’t be absent, either. According to an August report by Moneyish, MIA managers are more likely to have teams that are distracted and late on completing projects.
