The Two Contagious Behaviours of a Great Boss
WSJ, 2018-09-22
Facts
Bosses DO know their behaviours are contagious.
However, not all of them know which behaviours make the team stronger and those which backfire.
Likability
It’s a pattern of projecting joyfulness, optimism, enthusiasm and humour.
Upside 1: teams feel better about the work they do (the work is not necessarily excellent).
Upside 2: teams led by positive managers outperform teams with depressive managers.
Downside 1: leaders perceived as leisurely, hedonistic, etc. score low on integrity and accountability.
o Endless cheering in crisis leads to cringe and quick loss of authority/trust.
o Swinging to anger in crisis may work OK to rally up a team but is toxic when the crisis’s end is visible.
Proposed Solution
Relentlessness – when one person shows an extraordinary effort, this may compel others to follow and give more. [MK: watch for those who are irritated by this behaviour and see if they’re in the grey list.]
Requires personal sacrifices, but surprisingly doesn’t require exceptional talent (this gives many of us hope).
Emotional Control – while this may make a person look cold and reserved, this helps with humility and focus on the task and resources/people instead of personal feelings. This scores people higher on the integrity scale.
Regulating emotions is exhausting. It isolates leaders from teams, but in crisis this brings people around the visibly confident leader.