The best leaders want their organization to be successful. They also want the people who work for them and with them to be satisfied, engaged, and productive. To achieve these ends, effective leaders harness people’s strengths, set goals, and choose an appropriate leadership style.

Engaged employees don’t just happen. Effective leaders engage their employees’ interests and loyalty. They figure out people’s natural talents, adjust roles to suit their talents, and develop those talents into great strengths (FIGURE B.1).

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Trying to create talents that are not there can be a waste of time. Leaders who excel spend more time developing and drawing out strengths that already exist. Effective managers share certain traits (Tucker, 2002). They

Good managers also try not to promote people into roles ill-suited to their strengths. In Gallup surveys, 77 percent of engaged workers strongly agreed that “my supervisor focuses on my strengths or positive characteristics.” Only 23 percent of not-engaged workers agreed with that statement (Krueger & Killham, 2005).

Does all this sound familiar? Bringing out the best in people within an organization builds upon a basic principle of operant conditioning (Chapter 6). To teach a behavior, catch a person doing something right and reinforce it. It sounds simple, but too many managers act like the parents who focus on the one low grade on a child’s almost-perfect report card. As a report by the Gallup Organization (2004) observed, “65 percent of Americans received no praise or recognition in their workplace last year.”

The bottom line: In the workplace, great managers support employees’ well-being. By caring about their employees and engaging and affirming their strengths, they support happier, more creative, more productive workers with less absenteeism and turnover (Amabile & Kramer, 2011; De Neve et al., 2013). People tolerate bad companies more than bad managers (Busteed, 2012). Moreover, the same principles affect college students’ satisfaction, retention, and future success (Larkin et al., 2013; Ray & Kafka, 2014). Students who feel supported by caring friends and mentors, and engaged in their campus life, tend to persist and ultimately succeed during and after college.

In study after study, people merely asked to do their best do not do so. Good managers know that a better way to motivate higher achievement is to set specific, challenging goals. For example, you might state your own goal in this course as “Finish studying Appendix B by Friday.” Specific goals focus our attention and stimulate us to work hard, persist, and try creative strategies. Such goals are especially effective when workers or team members participate in setting them. Achieving goals that are challenging yet within our reach boosts our self-evaluation (White et al., 1995).

Stated goals are most effective when combined with progress reports (Harkin et al., 2016). Action plans that break large goals into smaller steps (subgoals) and specify when, where, and how to achieve those steps will increase the chances of completing a project on time (Burgess et al., 2004; Fishbach et al., 2006; Koestner et al., 2002).

Through a task’s ups and downs, people best sustain their mood and motivation when they focus on immediate goals (such as daily study) rather than distant goals (such as a course grade). Better to have one’s nose to the grindstone than one’s eye on the ultimate prize (Houser-Marko & Sheldon, 2008). Thus, before beginning each new edition of this book, our author-editor team manages by objectives—we agree on target dates for the completion and editing of each chapter draft. If we focus on achieving each of these short-term goals, the prize—an on-time book—takes care of itself. So, to motivate high productivity, effective leaders work with people to define explicit goals, subgoals, and implementation plans, and then provide feedback on progress.

What qualities produce a great leader? Leadership styles vary, depending both on the qualities of the leader and the demands of the situation. In some situations (think of a commander leading troops into battle), a directive style may be needed (Fiedler, 1981). In other situations, the strategies that work on the battlefield may smother creativity. If developing a comedy show, for example, a leader might get better results using a democratic style that welcomes team member creativity.

Leaders differ in the personal qualities they bring to the job. Some excel at task leadership—by setting standards, organizing work, and focusing attention on goals. To keep the group centered on its mission, task leaders typically use a directive style. This style can work well if the leader is smart enough to give good orders (Fiedler, 1987).

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Other managers excel at social leadership. They explain decisions, help group members solve their conflicts, and build teams that work well together (Evans & Dion, 1991; Pfaff et al., 2013). Social leaders, many of whom are women, often have a democratic style. They share authority and welcome team members’ opinions. Social leadership and team-building increases morale and productivity (Shuffler et al., 2011, 2013). We usually feel more satisfied and motivated, and perform better, when we can participate in decision making (Cawley et al., 1998; Pereira & Osburn, 2007). Moreover, when members are sensitive to one another and participate equally, groups solve problems with greater “collective intelligence” (Woolley et al., 2010).

Effective leaders are not overly assertive, which can damage social relationships within the group. And they are not unassertive, which can limit their ability to lead (Ames & Flynn, 2007). Effective leaders of laboratory groups, work teams, corporations, and society tend to be self-confident. They have charisma (Goethals & Allison, 2014; House & Singh, 1987; Shamir et al., 1993). People with charisma

Consider a study of morale at 50 Dutch firms (de Hoogh et al., 2004). Firms with the highest morale ratings had chief executives who inspired their colleagues “to transcend their own self-interests for the sake of the collective.” This ability to motivate others to commit themselves to a group’s mission is transformational leadership. Transformational leaders are often natural extraverts. They set their standards high, and they inspire others to share their vision. They pay attention to other people (Bono & Judge, 2004). The frequent result is a workforce that is more engaged, trusting, and effective (Turner et al., 2002).

Women more than men tend to be transformational leaders. This may help explain why companies with women in top management positions have tended to enjoy superior financial results (Eagly, 2007, 2013). That tendency held even after researchers controlled for variables such as company size.

Effective managers often exhibit a high degree of both task and social leadership. This finding applies in many locations, including coal mines, banks, and government offices in India, Taiwan, and Iran (Smith & Tayeb, 1989). As achievement-minded people, effective managers certainly care about how well people do their work. Yet they are sensitive to their workers’ needs. That sensitivity is often repaid by worker loyalty. Workers in family-friendly organizations that offer flexible hours report feeling greater job satisfaction and loyalty to their employers (Butts et al., 2013; Roehling et al., 2001).

Employee participation in decision making is common in Sweden, Japan, the United States, and elsewhere (Cawley et al., 1998; Sundstrom et al., 1990). Workers given a chance to voice their opinion and be part of the decision-making process have responded more positivelyto the final decision (van den Bos & Spruijt, 2002). They also feel more empowered and are more creative (Hennessey & Amabile, 2010; Seibert et al., 2011).

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The ultimate in employee participation is the employee-owned company. One such company in my [DM’s] town is the Fleetwood Group, a thriving 165-employee manufacturer of educational furniture and wireless electronic clickers. Every employee owns part of the company, and as a group they own 100 percent.

As a company that endorses faith-inspired “servant-leadership” and “respect and care for each team member-owner,” Fleetwood is free to place people above profits. Thus, when orders lagged during a recession, the employee-owners decided that job security meant more than profits. So the company paid otherwise idle workers to do community service, such as answering phones at nonprofit agencies and building Habitat for Humanity houses. Employee ownership attracts and retains talented people, which for Fleetwood has meant company success.