When warmth makes good business sense

Group Bonding

I was struck by recent research that found leadership effectiveness was predicted more by warmth than by competence.

According to the Zenger Folkman study, which involved more than 50,000 managers, those leaders that demonstrate high levels of "interpersonal warmth" have a better chance of long term success.

This makes absolute sense. From my experience of leading award winning teams it is being warm, open and showing genuine interest in staff and colleagues that helps to rapidly build trust. And teams that trust their leaders are more likely to be committed to doing a great job.

The roles in which I achieved the most and had the greatest job satisfaction were those where I worked for a leader I respected, but who also showed a genuine interest in me as an individual, as well as an employee. They were leaders who encouraged their staff to innovate and sought new opportunities for their teams to develop their skills. They were supportive when things didn't always go to plan, and celebrated when their staff excelled.

Conversely, the worst roles were those where I worked for someone who was unwilling, or incapable, of showing warmth to their staff. Their leadership approach generated hostile cultures, pitting colleagues against each other, and as a result staff were focused on protecting themselves rather than doing a great job.

Both the positive and negative cultures I experienced were in the NHS - ironically, an institution focused on providing care for people. But the leadership of some NHS organisations still seem unable to understand the benefit of demonstrating care for their staff.

The NHS survives on discretionary effort, but a hostile culture will inevitably impact on employees' unwillingness to go to the extra mile. As our health services are facing a growing shortage of staff with the right skills, why would they choose to work for an organisation where the leadership is unable to demonstrate care for their employees?

As the research study shows there is more to being a leader than being technically competent, but with the rapid turnover of Chief Executives due to organisations' "failure" to meet tough financial and performance targets, perhaps its no surprise that many NHS trusts seem to be looking to recruit leaders with a rigorous approach to performance management rather than a track record of building supportive cultures.

Leaders that show genuine warmth for their teams will benefit from a loyal, committed and enthusiastic workforce, who it turn will provide great care for patients and also work hard to hit those targets.

There's a company whose slogan is "Happy hens lay happy eggs" - maybe the NHS needs to adopt something similar - "Happy staff mean happy patients" - as a reminder to its leaders of the importance of showing genuine warmth and care for their staff.

Caroline Parnell runs Sentry PR - doing great work with great people. If you'd like to know more about how Sentry PR can help with your communication, marketing or engagement challenge call Caroline on 0780 7671728, email carpar@live.co.uk or check out the website www.sentrypr.co.uk