Many employees say that their company fosters a pecking order culture to identify their leaders. Managers use whatever means possible, ethical or not, to see which leader emerges. The more profitable companies are finding that pitting employees against each other is detrimental to the bottom line. An alternative approach and more profitable one for the company, is a culture based on connection.
Pecking Order Culture
If you’ve been in the workforce during the past decade, chances are you’ve experienced a variety of leadership styles. One of the most popular 2015 TED talks, “Why it’s important to forget the pecking order at work,” by Margaret Heffernan, highlights the importance of social connection vs breeding the “Super Chicken”. The Super Chicken succeeds by suppressing the productivity of others. They use their power and authority to serve themselves at the expense of others which results in dysfunction. This environment fosters fear and control and prevents innovation. People only voice opinions that they feel support the highest in the hierarchy for fear of offending anyone. People are stuck in their silos and compete against each other within the same company. This results in high employee turnover and low employee engagement. Quality employees know they can’t change the company culture since it starts with top management and takes a loyal following all the way through middle management. Employees who have enough industry experience soon leave for a healthier environment where they can focus on their professional development rather than internal politics.
Social Connection Culture
Based on MIT research, it was discovered that contrary to the pecking order, what fosters productivity and engagement at work is social connection. People enjoy working with other smart people and respect each other’s experience and find this culture more motivating. The high achieving groups were not dominated by one or two “Super Chickens”. Three characteristics stood out, 1) high social sensitivity to others (empathy), 2) each member gave equal time to each other, 3) more women were in this group. The key is the social connectedness that team members had with each other. People who are more comfortable sharing ideas and challenging each other have better ideas that emerge. People need to get to know each other in order to help each other. Anyone who has been in the corporate environment knows that there are challenges and things don’t always go as planned. People need to be comfortable talking to each other. This is built through trust and loyalty among the team. This is called social capital and it’s priceless. Companies who have social capital have employees that motivate each other. Employees that sincerely feel a connection with others at work tend to stay longer at the company. If your company has engaged employees and low turnover, chances are you’re building a culture of social connection.
Teams that work together longer perform better since it takes time to build trust and value. This results in true candor, frequent disagreements and better ideas. They’re able to solve more complex problems. It’s important to understand what happens between the team members. Everybody has value and is heard in the social capital model. The “Super Chickens” do not last long as they tend to eliminate each other. The danger is they drive out the quality employees before they eliminate each other. Don’t let that happen at your company. It takes top management to monitor this behavior and change behavior if necessary.
Is it time to rethink your company’s leadership style?
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