Leadership Behaviors That Alienate New Hires: What Does Current Research Reveal?
Over the last several years, leaders have wrestled with a variety of questions about the best way to retain new hires. Does the secret to retention lie in better benefits? Job sharing? Flex time? More technology? Or perhaps more training is simply needed to boost employee engagement and retention? Current popular management articles present an array of solutions that lead leaders to think that this issue has only solutions that require major investment. I encourage you to consider asking a few questions of your own: (1) Do I know what truly motivates my new hire? (2) Do I know what turns off my new hire, from a management behavior perspective? (3) Do I know how well-developed my new hire’s skills are? (4) Do I know what leadership behavior I need to demonstrate to connect with my new hire more quickly? (5) Do I know what leadership behaviors make my relationship with each new hire stronger (or perhaps weaker)? (6) How does my leadership behavior compare with research on impactful leader behaviors?
As an executive with more than 25 years of experience leading and developing high-performing team members and teams as well as a researcher, please allow me to shed light on the last of these questions. My research explores leadership behaviors and new employee engagement through the lens of Blanchard and Company’s Situational Leadership II (SLII) framework. SLII has staying power among leaders, as demonstrated by its use by over ten thousand companies worldwide, and 400 of the Fortune 500 companies. I have used this leadership framework in my work at PepsiCo, Georgia-Pacific, and General Electric because it is easy to understand, relevant, and easy for leaders to apply with positive benefits. Research supports my own experience with SLII, consistently demonstrating that SLII is a straightforward, reliable, and impactful leadership approach (Choudhury & Mohanty, 2019; Herminingsih, 2020; McCutcheon, 2019; Pradhan et al., 2019; Ribeiro et al., 2018; Zigarmi & Roberts, 2017).
SLII is framed around both Directive and Supportive behaviors. Directive Leadership Behaviors are actions that leaders demonstrate to shape and control what, how, and when things are done. As leaders, we all know that the what, how, and when are shaped not just by leaders but also by the performance of our people. Leaders who show high Directive Leadership Behaviors consistently model discipline in how they lead themselves, define what needs to be accomplished, help team members organize tasks when needed, teach, and monitor the work of their employees. Supportive Leadership Behaviors are actions that develop mutual trust and respect, resulting in increased motivation and confidence. Leaders who model high Supportive Leadership Behaviors consistently listen, facilitate problem-solving, ask for input, explain why, and encourage. As leaders, we recognize that these behaviors require an investment of time and attention in our employees and their work. We need, as one of my early managers—Mr. Wes Hanson—said to me early in my career as a sales manager, “to be working elbow to elbow with our people”.
SLII is anchored in the following four leadership styles: (S1) Directing, (S2) Coaching, (S3) Supporting, and (S4) Delegating. The underlying framework that supports SLII is focused on the managers’ understanding of the developmental level of the individual employee at all times. This framework assumes employees move back and forth along a continuum of four developmental areas depending on the length of time in their role, namely: (D1) low competence and high commitment, (D2) low- to some competence and low commitment, (D3) moderate- to high competence and variable commitment, and (D4) high competence and high commitment. If you would like to see the full SLII model, please click on the Content area.
The results of my quantitative study indicated that the Directing (S1) leadership style is not a statistically significant predictor of new employee engagement. “Not a statistically significant predictor” is research lingo for this is not helpful to leaders. If you want to engage with your new employees, stop telling them what to do. The results also indicated that the Supporting (S3) leadership style is not a statistically significant predictor of new employee engagement as well. This is not to say that your new employee will never be engaged because you apply Directing (S1) or Supporting (S3) behaviors. However, it is to say that new employees will become engaged more quickly if leaders replace Directing (S1), and Supporting (S3) behaviors with behaviors that have been statistically linked to new employee engagement. Remember leaders, think about the development level of your employees, and their need to grow in their role. In my next post, I will share with you what SLII leadership behaviors are most impactful in increasing the engagement of new employees.
If you would like to know more about how to be a more engaging leader, If you would like to know more about the research, schedule a free thirty-minute appointment with Leader Behaviors.