In this Harvard Business Review article, Emma Seppälä and Nicole McNichol discuss the power of healthy working relationships.
They argue that social psychologists demonstrate that leaders who prioritise relationships with their employees do better. The most effective leaders (as measured by their success rates and the success of their organizations) are values-driven, transparent, compassionate, humane, and recognise employees as unique individuals.
Research confirms that our desire to feel seen, heard, and recognised is fundamentally human. Not feeling valued for your contributions or sensing that your value isn’t acknowledged by others in your group activates the stress response and feels like a threat. Our sense of connection also directly influences motivation. Research on self-determination theory, for example, demonstrates that in addition to having a sense of autonomy and freedom, motivation at work is largely impacted by our feelings of connection to others.
The authors offer five principles for improving work relationships:
1. Transparency and authenticity
Healthy work relationships require clear, consistent, honest, and open communication, which itself is the key element in trust. Ensure you communicate honestly, to listen and respond so others feel heard, seen, and valued.
2. Inspiration
In healthy relationships, people lift each other up by inspiring each other to be the best versions of themselves. One of the biggest predictors of relationship satisfaction is the ability for people to maintain positive images of each other. Exercises like reflecting on and sharing your strengths within your team can become a source of inspiration.
3. Emotional intelligence
How you handle emotions (especially the negative ones) is critical to your ability to navigate inevitable conflicts. Research shows that our relationships thrive when we don’t sweat the small stuff and are able to put the needs of a relationship ahead of our own.
4. Self-care
Maintaining a connection with others requires maintaining your own balance and well-being. It’s impossible to nurture and honor the mental balance and health of others if you aren’t first attending to your own.
5. Values
Humble leaders who are compassionate, generous, forgiving, and ethical do better. They lead with kindness and keep their employees’ well-being in mind. Feeling connected to others requires being on the same page emotionally as well as intellectually.
In healthy work relationships, everyone benefits, and everyone experiences moments of authentic happiness and joy.
This is just one of the reasons why inclusive leadership is such a powerful approach to leadership, it prioritises the quality of working relationships, and not just those with people who are similar to us and in our in-group, but the whole team.
You can access the full article here.
