My former intern, Josh Royes Ph.D. and I wrote a research paper on the business outcomes (turnover, organizational citizenship behavior, and organizational satisfaction) seen in organizations with approachable leaders, one of many studies that support the importance of leader approachability. The study examined whether leader approachability impacts these organizational outcomes above and beyond factors like pay satisfaction and work conditions satisfaction.

We conducted the research using 7,728 participants spread across 48 locations in 3 different companies. Short answer: leader approachability has a big positive impact on these critical workplace measures. A couple of my favorite findings from the research:

A more practical way to understand the impact Approachability has on these important workplace outcomes is using a bivariate effect calculation.  For example, the correlation of -.50 between Approachability and turnover intention means that this study suggests that 75% of leaders will be either high Approachability-low turnover or low Approachability-high turnover.  The .55 correlation between Approachability and OCB means that 77.5% of leaders will be either high Approachability-high OCB or low Approachability-low OCB.  The correlation of .56 between Approachability and organization satisfaction means that 78% of leaders will be either high Approachability-high organization satisfaction or low Approachability-low organization satisfaction.  Thinking about correlations this way highlights the practical significance of Approachability.

Another important finding:

The results for hypothesis 3 are very important.  They indicate that Approachability predicts turnover intention, OCB, and organization satisfaction beyond workplace conditions satisfaction and pay satisfaction.  Additionally, Approachability was as important in predicting these outcomes as improving satisfaction with workplace conditions or pay.  While providing solid pay and working conditions is clearly effective, it is not without downsides. Improving work conditions and increasing pay often require significant investments that can be dismissed by employees over time (i.e., “what have you done for me lately?”)  It is uncertain if the short-term improvements would outweigh the cost.  Additionally, satisfaction with pay and workplace conditions may not rise linearly with changes to pay or workplace conditions, further reducing potential return on these investments.

On the other hand, training leaders to improve their approachability requires a smaller investment that continues to reap benefits with each daily interaction between leaders and their teams.  It is also possible that increasing leader approachability also increases employees’ satisfaction with their pay or workplace conditions, since the three constructs are moderately related.  Additionally, training a leader can help the leader fulfill psychological needs of their employees, whereas pay satisfaction and workplace satisfaction are merely contextual factors.  This could be a distinction of more internalized motivators as compared with external motivators (Gagne & Deci, 2005).

Therefore, targeting leaders with Approachable Leadership training is less expensive than improving the work environment or increasing pay and yields similar if not better results.  Our results suggest an organization struggling with high turnover, low OCB, or low organization satisfaction (or all three), should strongly consider targeting leader approachability as a viable and effective method to remedy these issues.

I encourage you to check out the entire research paper. You can find it at the link below.

Leader Approachability: Reduced Turnover and Other Business Outcomes (Approachable Leadership 2021)

How do you deal with workplace negativity?

“Why is he always so negative about everything? He’s got such a terrible attitude!”

Do you ever deal with a coworker who’s a regular source of workplace negativity? Or someone with a bad attitude?

At some point every leader deals with workplace negativity. Sometimes it’s a passing thing. A blow-up over an unexpected change at work. Sometimes a personal situation bleeds into the workplace and leads to negativity. And sometimes you have a teammate who sees the glass half-empty.

Workplace negativity can quickly drag a team down. But it doesn’t have to. If you lead a teammate who sometimes (or even regularly) exhibits a bad attitude, there are some practical ways you can turn things around.

Run to the Smoke

Step one is hard. Run to the smoke, before workplace negativity creates a larger fire.

Humans avoid conflict. “Fight or flight” instincts trigger when a negative person makes a snide comment or shoots down an idea. Some go into “fight” mode, which escalates the conflict. Many of us go into “flight” mode, ignoring the comment. Others save our comments for the “meeting after the meeting,” where we complain about the complainer. None of these approaches are productive.

It is important to engage these negative comments directly. Channel your inner Jerry Brown.

Jerry Brown had a strange habit for a politician. Anytime Brown saw protesters he would walk up to them. Then he asked a simple question, “What’s on your mind?” Brown would politely listen to the protesters explain their grievances.

Once Governor Brown believed he understood the complaint, he didn’t argue. He didn’t try to persuade the protesters to his side. Instead, he explained his understanding of their issue back to them – often more persuasively than they did. He proved he fully understood their point of view. Then he’d head to his event.

Make the Hero Assumption

The Governor’s approach is very similar to what we teach leaders in our Workshops. One important behavior we teach – that Brown clearly adopts – is the Hero Assumption.

It is easy for leaders to make negative assumptions about employee behavior – what we call the Villain Assumption. A leader making the Villain Assumption might think, “Everyone’s struggling right now, why can’t they just get on board? They’re always so selfish.”

A leader making the Hero Assumption instead believes that negative behavior comes from a good place. This person really cares and wants things to be great. Governor Brown didn’t assume protesters had negative intent. Instead he acknowledged the legitimacy of their complaints. It is important for leaders to fight the urge to assume negative intent, and it’s especially critical during today’s trying times. If you make the hero assumption – knowing that your teammate wants to be great – then your approach and the questions you ask will be different.

Stop, Listen, Confirm

Hopefully your negative teammate isn’t outside your office carrying a picket sign or interrupting your next meeting yelling slogans with a bullhorn. But Jerry Brown’s approach is a great way to deal with negativity.

Brown shows empathy with his negative constituents. He doesn’t expect them to change their mind or agree with him. But he does want them to feel like he took time to understand. That he carefully considered what they had to say and perhaps he might change his mind.

We teach the Stop, Listen, Confirm model for these situations.

Seek Understanding Using the SLC Technique

If your teammate has a complaint or something negative to say, ask what’s bothering them and then truly listen to understand. This can be difficult for leaders who often go into problem-solving mode before their teammate has finished their story. That creates even more negativity.

Instead use the Stop-Listen-Confirm (SLC) technique. While your teammate tells their story, commit to being fully present. Stop everything else and give your full attention. Actively listen to the whole story.

Then, before you say anything else, complete this phrase: “You feel [emotional state] because of [summary of situation]. Do I have that right?” If you discipline yourself to do this, it will transform your conversations with negative teammates.

Ask Better Questions

Now that you’re making the hero assumption you won’t blame your teammate for their bad attitude. Instead you’ll seek to understand what’s going on that’s causing the negativity. You’ll recall times they were positive and engaged. They’ll be much more likely to tell you what’s going on.

Once you’ve confirmed understanding you can then ask questions to help clarify what might change their attitude. Here are three simple questions to get you started:

• Do you have what you need?
• What would make work better?
• What’s next?

These simple questions lead to much more positive conversations, especially when they come from a sincere place of caring from the leader.

Prepare to Change Your Mind

I first heard the Jerry Brown story a few years ago when Tim Ferris interviewed Stewart Brand, founder of the Whole Earth Catalog. Ferris calls Stewart the “Polymath of Polymaths” – he’s an incredibly interesting guy. Near the end of this interview Brand turns to the subject of the power and courage of changing one’s mind and told the story about Jerry Brown.

It is important for you, as a leader, to be prepared to change your mind. You should especially be willing to change your mind about the attitude of someone creating “workplace negativity.” The vast majority of situations where someone turns negative are resolvable.

The Takeaway

One of our core values is Teamwork. We define that as, “to embrace healthy conflict and then commit wholeheartedly to our path.” Healthy conflict can feel like negativity, but this is wrong-headed. Instead you should embrace healthy conflict. You can do that if you:

1. Run to the Smoke (don’t avoid a negative teammate to avoid conflict – engage with and try to understand them);
2. Make the Hero Assumption (make sure you aren’t creating a negative workplace by always assuming the best about your teammates);
3. Stop, Listen, Confirm (channel your inner Jerry Brown and seek to truly understand negative behavior – if you can’t explain how your teammate feels you may be part of the problem);
4. Ask Better Questions with an Open Mind (ask great questions and truly seek to learn and be fully prepared to change your mind).

You got this. And if you have any negative feedback, I’m all ears 🙂

Do you have any teammates who have a negative attitude? How do you handle workplace negativity? Do you embrace healthy conflict or avoid it? Let us know in the comments.

A 2019 study of nurses at a hospital in Egypt looked at the impact different nurse leadership styles have on nurse innovation. The study, published in in the American Journal of Nursing Research, considered three different leadership styles:

• Transformational Leadership (which aligns closely to the leader behaviors we teach at Approachable Leadership);
• Transactional leadership; and
• Laissez Faire Leadership.

Transformational leaders achieve high performance cultures by influencing and paying individual attention to followers, being supportive, and encouraging followers to learn and grow. Transactional leaders, on the other hand, motivate primarily through a combination of reward or punishment. Laissez Faire leaders tend to abdicate responsibility don’t really use their power in any consistent way.

Which Leadership Style Gets More Nurse Innovation?

The study looked at whether the leadership style of leaders impacted nurse innovation in units they lead in eight teaching hospitals with a total of 1,954 beds. Researchers randomly surveyed 384 nurses with at least one year of experience (95% confidence interval).

The study found that nurses were more than twice as likely to have a negative perception of their leader if they were Transactional or Laissez Faire. Over 83% of nurses with a Transformational leader had a positive perception of them.

About half of the nurses in the study (49.2%) showed high innovative work behavior levels. The study then looked at which leadership style correlated most with high innovation nurses. Transformational leaders correlated to a nurse exhibiting high innovative work behavior at a 0.489 level of significance. In other words it is 74.45% more likely that a high innovation nurse works for a Transformational leader.

This finding is very consistent with our research of Approachable Leaders. Supervisors rated approachable by those they lead are much more likely to see higher organizational citizenship behavior and lower levels of turnover.

Healthcare systems have a critical need to attract and retain innovative nurses who go above and beyond at work. This study suggests the key way to achieve these results rests in the leadership style of their nurse managers.

If you want to review the study you can find it here.

We are constantly on the lookout for new research on leadership, especially studies that relate to the leadership behaviors we teach in our Workshops. Here are 5 recent studies we found interesting. Most of these are behind a paywall, but we’ve linked to them in case you have a special interest.

1. Safety Behavior: The Impact of Transformational Leadership on Safety Climate and Individual Safety Behavior on Construction Sites, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health: Shen, et al. 2017

This article finds that safety-related leader member exchange (LMX – which studies find is highly associated with leaders rated as approachable) has a significant impact on safety compliance and safety participation on construction sites. Employees In the study who were comfortable talking to their leader were 65% more likely to show high safety compliance and high safety participation.

2. Proactive Employee Behavior: Can Leader Humility Spark Employee Proactivity? Leadership & Organization Development Journal: Chen et al. 2018

This study finds that humble leadership is strongly associated with proactive employee behavior (similar to organizational citizenship). Leader approachability is one component of their measure of humble leadership. In this study supervisors rated high in humble leadership were 76% more likely to see employee proactive behavior.

3. Patient Care Outcomes: Effect of Transformational Leadership on Job Satisfaction and Patient Safety Outcomes, Nursing Outlook: Boamah, et al. 2017

Transformational leadership (which research shows is highly associated with leaders rated as approachable) had a strong positive influence on workplace empowerment, which in turn increased nurses’ job satisfaction and decreased the frequency of adverse patient outcomes. The study found that transformational leadership was associated with a nearly 70% reduction in adverse patient outcomes.

4. Employee Performance: The Mediating Role of Leader-Member Exchange in the Effect of Transformational Leadership on Job Performance and Job Satisfaction (Chapter 11 of Business And Economics Researches Book): Hüseyin Aslan 2019

This article finds that leader member exchange (LMX – which studies find is highly associated with leaders rated as approachable) predicts performance of employees. In this study there was an 89% higher correlation of high performance with leaders who had high leader member exchange.

5. Reducing Turnover: The Effect of Job Satisfaction on Turnover Intention with Organizational Justice: A Sample of State University (Chapter 12 of Business And Economics Researches Book): Edip ÖRÜCÜ et al. 2019

This article finds that interaction justice (feeling that the interactions with your leader are comfortable and fair) reduces turnover intention while operational justice (feeling that operational decisions are arrived at fairly) and general job satisfaction do not.

Tom Hanks is earning rave reviews from both audiences and critics for his portrayal of Fred Rogers in “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.” There is a lot of talk about an Oscar nomination, which is well-deserved. Like the man Fred Rogers himself, the movie seems both completely out of step with today’s world; at the same time it seems like exactly what we need. Its tag line is “we all could use a little kindness.” You can say that again.

One of the best things to come out of this movie is not just Hanks’ amazing portrayal of the man. It also reminds anyone who grew up in the “neighborhood” (plus new generations getting introduced to him for the first time) of all the things Rogers taught and stood for.

I never really thought about Rogers as a leader until I saw this video a few years ago. In less than 7 minutes Rogers turns around a skeptical and dismissive audience of Senators and earns the PBS network $20M of funding. This funding not only helped Rogers continue doing his terrific work, but also funded other children’s programming that positively impacted the lives of generations of children (Sesame Street’s first episode aired the year after this testimony).

There are a number of approachability lessons in this testimony. Here are a few that stand out to me:

1. Don’t Take the Bait: Right off the bat Senator John Pastore tries to bait Mr. Rogers into an argument. He taunts him to read his testimony instead of having the conversation that Rogers hopes to have. Rogers doesn’t take the bait. Each time the Senator exhibits aggression or sarcasm Rogers calmly and directly responds. He’s not just sticking to the message – he is testifying from a place of deep caring. Rogers is quietly confident that once Senator Pastore understands the great work Rogers and his team are doing in the lives of young children he will be on board.

2. Make the Hero Assumption: Rogers makes the hero assumption about Senator Pastore. He understands that the Senator has a job to do and wants to be careful with taxpayer funds. He expects to face hard questions. But Rogers also believes strongly that the Senator cares about the lives of children, what they are consuming in the media, and shares his concern about their mental health (and this is 1969, not 2019!) He helps the Senator do his duty to the purse by explaining why the investment in his low-budget programming is both superior and much cheaper than violent cartoons. He then gives examples of the practical and powerful lessons he teaches instead.

3. Lead by Example: The most powerful part comes at the end, where Rogers quotes the lines from a song he wrote about how a child can deal with anger by exercising self control. The power of this lesson is palpable as you watch the Senator transform before your eyes. He understands Rogers isn’t just being a good example for children – he’s epitomizing how all of us should act and treat each other. As neighbors.

4. Competence AND Connection: Rogers comes armed with a long paper that covers his philosophy and cites numerous facts during his discussion with Pastore. He clearly knows his stuff, and encourages the Senators in the room to educate themselves. But he quickly turns to what’s more important, connecting with the Senators and making sure they connect with his mission of caring for children. If he only focused on one or the other he would not have won the committee over.

We live in a time where Fred Rogers’ lessons and life’s work are more relevant than ever. Each of us is unique and special and here for a reason. We should treat each other with kindness, caring and understanding. We should help each other. And we create good neighborhoods (and countries for that matter) by being good neighbors. Those are lessons that stand the test of time.

What are some other leadership lessons you remember from Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood? Let me know in the comments.

Some coaches are masters of the halftime adjustment. Love him or hate him, when Bill Belichick’s Patriots are losing or tied at halftime they come back to win those games 47% of the time. The rest of the NFL? Only 26% of the time. Future Hall of Fame NBA coach Gregg Popovich is unparalleled against the spread in the second half of ball games. Sure, it helps to have future hall of fame talent on your team to pull off all these second half miracles, but these coaches and their staffs are just better than their peers at turning around a team at halftime.

How are you at “halftime” adjustments? Since we just began the second half of 2019 (can you believe it?) this is a good time to reflect back on your goals for the the year. It’s also a great time to talk to your team about their goals for the year, and see if you can help them make any halftime adjustments.

If you’re like me you’ve been a little up and down in the first half. What kind of adjustments can we make to win the second half of the year? Here are some tips I’m going to use that I hope will help you and your teammates.

Progress Principle

The Progress Principle helps you stay motivated (and grow your motivation) to achieve your goals. It is based on the idea that we are most motivated on days where we make progress (no matter how small) toward our destination. We are least motivated (and at highest risk of giving up on our goals) on days when we make no progress or feel like we’ve taken a step back. The Progress Principle by Teresa Amabile Steven Kramer explains the compelling research around how this principle works.

The core premise is this: to maximize the chances to stay motivated to reach our goals we should optimize our days for progress. And the best way to optimize for progress is to pick the smallest possible step we can take toward our goal. If you set the bar too high you increase the chance that you won’t make progress that day. No progress, no motivation.

When you break down goals to their smallest actionable step you optimize for progress, making it more likely that you’ll take the next small step (and increase your motivation to take the steps after that). Then it’s one foot in front of the other. You can massively increase your output by optimizing your days to take one small step in the right direction.

Win-Know-Show

In our Approachable Leadership Workshop one of the things we teach leaders is to ask their team the question “What’s Next?” The assumption behind this question is the progress principle, and when we teach it we also teach the simple “Win-Know-Show” model.

“Win” simply means identify the next small win – the smallest win you can think of. It should almost seem silly. Think about any big changes you have ever wanted to make in your life. Maybe you wanted to lose 25 pounds. Or start a business or earn a big promotion. Write a book or movie. Or master a skill or hobby. These are big goals, not small wins.

The thought of accomplishing these big goals can be exciting at first, even though the thought of making it happen can be daunting and even scary. The bigger the goal the more difficult it can be to figure out how to tackle it.

The Secret to Achieving Your Goals

But you can break down goals into smaller components to make them more achievable.  You can take a step towards losing weight by walking 100 steps after each meal or adding a salad with each meal.  To earn that promotion maybe asking if your coworkers if they need help on anything or asking your supervisor what you could learn to provide more value. To master that skill you can start by dedicating 5 minutes a day to reading or practicing.  These goals are much more concrete, easier to start, and more likely to build habits that lead to long-term change.

And remember, any effort expended towards that goal is progress in the right direction.  The time and energy you spend on these little changes will put you on the right track.  If you are not taking these little steps, then you are likely spinning your wheels trying to figure out how to accomplish your big goal.  Taking little steps puts you closer to your goal than thinking about the big goal.

Applying Win-Know-Show to Your Halftime Adjustments

How can you put the power of Win-Know-Show to work in your halftime adjustments? Look at what you want to accomplish in the second half of this year. Are there any big goals you had on your list in January that are stalled? Take one or two of those and break them down using the Win-Know-Show model.

1. WIN: What is the smallest next step you can take toward that bigger goal?

By the way, habit stacking is a great way to make these little adjustments. Earlier this year I had a plantar fasciitis flare-up. I visited a physical therapist who told me I needed to stretch more. Duh. But then he wisely said, “but if you’re like 99% of the people I see you’re not going to do that, right?” Well, now I was listening. “Yeah, I might do it for a few days but no way I’m going to start consistently stretching,” I told him.

He then said, “you brush your teeth, right?” Uh, yeah. “Then put this piece of foam right in front of the sink where you brush your teeth,” he said as he handed over a half-circle foam roller. “Put your toes on this and lean into your sink while you brush. You’ll get 8 minutes of stretching a day.” And like that, I started a “stretching program” that I’ve kept up with daily months later. This worked because the step was really small (stand on this while you brush your teeth) and connected to a habit I already had (brushing).

2. KNOW: How will you know you’re making progress?

In today’s world where you can measure almost anything with your watch, phone or wearable device, there are tons of ways to track progress. Here I’d suggest blunt versus precision instruments. Instead of getting paralyzed with data, just focus on “right direction, wrong direction” measurements. Like using the Seinfeld Strategy to stop procrastination.

3. SHOW: Who will you show (and when will you show) that you’ve accomplished the win?

Last you need to find someone to share (and maybe even celebrate) your latest win. This person can help hold you accountable and help you celebrate your small victory. Ideally they’ll then help you start the cycle over by identifying another small win.

That’s it. Just rinse, lather, and repeat.

Applying Win-Know-Show to Your Team

This model is a great way to coach your teammates on their own halftime adjustments. An approachable leader wants to constantly be checking in on the progress of their team. But most “performance appraisals” are backward-focused, demotivating, and often too rare or late to make any difference. Instead, ask the question, “What’s Next?” and start looking ahead to next small wins. These conversations are way more motivating and much more likely to achieve actual results.

If you put the power of incremental progress to work for your team, your combined results can’t help but improve. We’ve included a copy of the Win-Know-Show discussion guide in our Retention Toolkit. Maybe you won’t create the next sports dynasty, but your halftime adjustments will definitely get results.

Do you have a “What’s Next” that you’re working on? Add your “Win-Know-Show” to the comments, and we can help you with your halftime adjustment!