The definition of leadership has largely shifted focus over the decades; some decades have focused more on authority while others have relied more on influence. In modern times, the point of leadership is to “influence a group of individuals to achieve a common goal” (Northouse, 2019, p. 4). I believe that a large part of what allows people to be good leaders is their personality and how others perceive them as a person. Likeability breeds respect, and we tend to want to impress and comply with those that we hold to a high level of respect.
I have worked at many different places, all with different kinds of leaders. The most recent place that I have worked at is a national ice cream store chain. My manager and the owner of the store are both very personable and nice, so I feel inclined to impress them with my work — I don’t want to disappoint them. Whenever there is an issue or we make a mistake, the manager brings it to us individually to avoid embarrassing us in front of our coworkers. She is very easy to communicate with and chats with us about life, relationships, and current events during downtime. As a result, all of the workers have a high level of respect for her.
Similarly, the Pittsburgh Steelers started off with a record-breaking start to the season: 11-0. Mike Tomlin, the team’s head coach, lead the team to victory one week after another, but there was one obstacle in his way that cost the team 4 losses in its last 5 games — Offensive Coordinator Randy Fichtner. Fichtner, as the OC, is another leadership figure within the Steelers hierarchy. However, his playcalling was very predictable, tame, and to be quite frank — terrible. Though, what I find interesting is that the Steelers players largely defended Fichtner as he came under fire publicly, especially by Steelers fans, for his horrible performance this season (Strackbein, 2020). If he was causing them to lose, why would Steelers players defend him? Easy — they respected him and liked him. Clearly, personability has a significant impact on how people behave, particularly whether or not they comply with someone or not.
However, at other establishments that I have worked at, I have witnessed the impact of “dark-side personality traits” (Hamel, 2021). Funnily enough, I have worked at another ice cream store in the past, but this one was local. The store was run horrifically; it was truly a nightmare because there was no common agreeance amongst the workers since the manager had trained us all differently. This often led to arguments and debate between workers a growing distrust for our manager. One of the dark-side personality traits that my manager had was impulsivity because she would often “neglect to consider the consequences of (her) actions” and “fail to keep promises and commitments” (Hamel, 2021). One time in the summer when we were very busy, I remember my manager telling me to take out the trash in the middle of a rush (there were approximately 30 people lined up outside our door). I mentioned to her that I thought it was a bad idea because taking out the trash was going to be very messy since it was hot out, our air conditioning was broken, and there were pools of ice cream melting away in the bags. Nonetheless, she insisted I took out the trash right then and there, in front of all of the customers, so I complied. Lo and behold, the trash bags left huge puddles and long trails of mixed ice cream. The trail was so messy and unappealing to look at that the area’s landlord called my manager to complain and she blamed the situation on me and made me go outside and scrub the ice cream off of the sidewalks. Needless to say, I wasn’t too happy with her and I did not trust her judgment as a result. Similarly, my old manager was also argumentative as she was “overly sensitive to criticism” and was always very “suspicious” (Hamel, 2021). When workers would confront her about the lack of consistency in our team, she would take it personally and assume we were insulting her. She would also not trust us — if we asked for a day or two off for appointments or another given reason, she would question us and suggest we were lying about what we actually had scheduled for that day. Overall, I did not appreciate her leadership techniques at all.
All in all, I was undoubtedly a better worker for the former manager than the latter manager. The former manager’s personable attitude, mannerisms, and demeanor made me want to work harder, but the latter manager made me dread coming to work, and I easily stopped caring about what she thought of me, which was later reflected in my work. In order to have a high-functioning team within a workplace, it needs to have leadership with a high level or respectability, or it will inevitably fail.
References
Hamel, R. (2021). Lesson 2: Trait Approach. Retrieved from: https://psu.instructure.com/courses/2104789/modules/items/31102388
Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and practice (8th ed.). S.l.: SAGE Publications.
Strackbein, N. (2020, December 31). Steelers Keep Defending Fichtner, Which Is Fine if Big Ben Calls Plays. Retrieved from https://www.si.com/nfl/steelers/gm-report/pittsburgh-steelers-defending-randy-fichtner
Hi Ashley,
I agree with your blog that likeability helps breed good leaders because there are people that can just get the job done. But, that doesn’t necessarily mean they are considered good leaders. If a leader wants their subordinates to come in eager to accomplish a goal, they have to be somewhat likable. I noticed in your blog, you discuss how you worked at an ice cream store and that your owner and manager were both “personable and nice” thus causing you to want to be the best employee you could be so you wouldn’t disappoint them. I also work in a store that the manager and owner are both very respectable and kind to their employees. I can agree these qualities do make someone want to work harder to not let them down. So, the first thought that came to my mind was if there was a correlation between service sector jobs where being sociable is important and the kindness of a manager/owner.
This thought was then put to a halt as you discussed another ice cream job, where your manager had a “dark side” of personality traits. However, throughout that entire paragraph, you never mentioned anything about the owner of that facility. So, another question popped into my mind was if there are different types of managers that come from different types of owners? We know that different motivating factors come from different leadership techniques. A way we could study this could be the path-goal theory where the focus is on how leaders can motivate their subordinates (Hamel, 2021). Perhaps, your more desirable ice cream manager simply had a boss that motivated them to be the best they could be, and your less desirable manager didn’t. Maybe the way that your leaders are being led affects how they lead you.
Resource:
Hamel, R. (2021). Lesson 1: Introduction to Leadership
Ashley,
Nicely written and detailed. I have had my own experiences with dark-side personalities and even written about them as you have, but the way you wrote your commentary was different and better than my own because of it.
Where we both wrote in detail, providing examples and experiences, you actually wrote about the positive side of NOT having a dark-side personality with your example of the Pittsburgh Steelers Offensive Coordinator, Randy Fichtner.
You pointed out that support of Randy, despite his unimaginative play-calling was a direct result of him not having those dark-side personality traits that would have allowed for a much easier firing if that were the case.
This was an excellent addition to your article and one that gave me a different perspective. Thank you.
Ashley,
I agree that working with a manger who is treats you like a person will almost always bring out the best in an employee. I have also held many and varied jobs throughout my life and had many different types of managers. The ones that stand out in my memory are the ones that took the time to get to know me and treated me like a person.
In my late teens I worked at Sears Roebuck for a short time. The manager there was a very nice lady who had managed the sales floor of the women’s department for many years. She took the time to get to know more about me than just my name even though it must have been clear that I wouldn’t be there long. She listened when I needed to talk and even sent me home early when my elderly cat passed away. She just knew how to be good to people, no dark side traits there.
I think it says a lot about dark side traits that, although I have worked for plenty of people who exhibit the dark side traits, I don’t really remember them. As people we tend to cherish the people who treated us well and try to forget the people who didn’t. As a leader now, with a small staff, I strive to be the kind of person that my staff with remember fondly, not try to forget as a bad experience.
Great post! Thanks for sharing.
Gina
Hi Ashley,
I agree with you whole heartedly in order for an organization to be successful it is very important to have a sustainable amount of followers who want to follow you. Reading your story brought me back to an old manager who was very much like your former one which also resulted in a shift in the workplace. Eventually it came down to her losing all of the staff, her corporate team coming in to investigate, and then her having to find all new staff. It is very easy to place blame when something doesn’t sound right or something goes wrong but not so much to take the criticism and use it as a coaching method to make an establishment better. I feel that is where leaders often fail. It is not a bad thing to receive criticism or to mess up at all.
Any leader who possesses dark personality traits, in my opinion, should not be leaders at all. This not only causes a relatively toxic environment for everyone but it also hinders those following to also begin to possess some of those argumentative and interpersonal personality traits as well. I don’t feel like providing feelings of fear that they are going to fail is a good tactic for anyone. Having a positive environment to go to everyday does wonders to ones happiness, health, and mental stability. Thank you so much for sharing.