How leaders humility enhances relationship with followers

Author: Iloka Benneth Chiemelie

Published: 6th of June 2014

In any given organization, the need for leaders to deliver is inevitable because this is the only way that the company will be able to remain profitable. In essence, profitability is ensured when sustainable and quality leadership is the order of the day. However, while leaders determine what is to be done, the actual process of doing that task is performed by followers, making it necessary that quality relationship be established between leaders and followers. So what role those humility play and why is it important.

Humility and leadership are two constructs that have been proven to be correlated in a number of empirical studies (Bird, 1940; House & Aditya, 1997), with the view being that a humble leader is more approachable and as such capable of influencing greater success because followers do believe that they have the responsibility of paying back for his humility. Thus, I stand on the same view as he above empirical studies to reckon that humility is essential for establishing quality relationship between leaders and followers. For instance, I have a humble manager who will go the distance with her staff and understand their individual needs as well as present them with possible measures to address such needs. The outcome is that she is loved and we respect her a lot. On an individual note, I am always willing to do whatever will make her happy (improving my output) and the effect is a quality relationship with the management as well as sustainable increase in productivity. Thus, it is clear that humility is essential between leaders and followers.

In the view of your second question, theorists have also turned to understanding what motivates followers. In their studies, theories on transformational and charismatic leadership have focused on understanding how leaders engage the mind and emotions of followers. Bass (1985, 1990, 1998), noted that transformational leadership features charisma, inspiration, motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration and this can be effectively adopted by a humble leader. Humility does influence leadership style because a humble leader will bypass bureaucracies that create boundary and adopt leadership style that opens door for followers to learn and follow effectively. Thus, one can easily perceive humility as having influence on leadership style.

Reference

Bass, B. M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectation. New York7 Free Press.

Bass, B. M. (1990). Bass and Stogdill's handbook of leadership: Theory, research, and managerial applications (3rd ed.). New York7 Free Press.

Bass, B. M. (1998). Transformational leadership: Industrial, military, and educational impact. Mahwah, NJ7 Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Bird, C. (1940). Social psychology. New York7 Appleton-Century.

House, R. J., & Aditya, R. N. (1997). The social scientific study of leadership: Quo vadis? Journal of Management, 23, 409 - 473