Key Characteristics of Effective Management and Leadership

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In order to dive deep into the effectiveness of different management and leadership characteristic we must first define what an effective leader or manager looks like. For the purposes of this article, I’ll define effective leadership as someone who gets the best out of the members on their team, leads them to perform at a high-level, and deals with issues and conflict in a manner which leaves everyone better off.

In my articles I often use the words management and leadership interchangeably but the truth is I do distinguish between them. I would define management as more of an overlooking organisational role like orchestrating a chest strategy or tactics for a football team. Whereas I would define leadership more in terms of a captain on the pitch of that football team. I strongly believe that if you want to have an effective and organised team, you must embody both the role of the manager and the captain. But that's just my take, let's see what the research says

With the terms defined we can press on and have a look at what the research says about the efficacy and effect of certain characteristic. One particular study found that one's management style, whatever it may be, had a significant effect on how they would deal with conflict in the workplace. For example those you have a delegating, or laissez-fair, management style (which is when managers give little direction to the team and let them go about their work with little guidance) tend to deal with conflict by simply avoiding them. However, I would argue that no matter how hard you try to avoid conflict, it will eventually arise nonetheless.

People with transactional management styles (those who rely on reward and punishment as motivation) have an approach that uses mediation and compromise to settle workplace conflicts. Choose your approach based on your management style and what you think your team responds to best. Remember, the goal isn't to get rid of the problem but to build on it and make sure that it doesn't reoccur (or is easily dealt with), for one, and second that your team is better off afterwards.

While technical capability are essential to perform at your job, developing your people skills (soft skills) are what will make you excel. Humour is often an underrated and under appreciated tool in management. It creates a friendlier working environments and makes you more enjoyable to be around and work with. An interesting study by Priest & Swain (2002) on cadets in the US armed forces found that those who here regarded as “good leaders” in a questionnaire where far more likely to be rated higher in humour when evaluating their leadership capabilities. Even when controlling for all other variable, such as intelligence, consideration, and physical activity, humour was found to be a significant component of good leadership. Think about it in terms of the extremes; would you rather work for the Devil wearing Prada, or Michael Scott? In terms of day-to-day enjoyment of my job, I know my answer.

Though humour is effective for every manager, it was found that the humour in the workplace is especially effective for female leaders when it came to using positive humour (as opposed to negative, which is more depreciating, explicit, or generally inappropriate for the workplace). An interesting affect of the gender difference in the use of positive and negative humour is that while women are more likely to be (more severely) penalised for the use of it, they are also more likely to reap larger rewards from the use of positive humour compared to men (though the study cannot account for why that is exactly). So, this tells us that the use of (positive) humour can only be beneficial to you and your team, both in regards to how effective you all are as a unit and how you are perceived in your leadership role.

A great real-life example of this that I had the privilege to witness firsthand is with a football team. My father has managed several professional football teams, and I had the pleasure of getting a close behind the scenes look at what happens on the training grounds. He would often explain what had to be done during training; drills, tactics, positioning, in a very serious, matter of fact way. But once they were on the field, he would joke about little mistakes and offer words of encouragement. I could see the tension lift from their faces as he did this. These jokes could range from booing players practising penalties to teasing specific players about a blunder they made. He believed that confronting mistakes was the best way to get over them. It wasn’t always easy, but he has an excellent track record of improving players.

This approach was especially effective because of the contrast between the serious instructions and the light-hearted jokes he made around the team. There was several occasion where the team had a bad start to the first half, but during the break he would give a team talk that would relieve tension with humour, raise their spirits, and home them in on victory with a serious tone in the end. This shift in atmosphere often led to countless comebacks. Of course it wouldn't always guarantee a win, but I barely ever remember a game where the second half wasn't played better the first. Humour wasn't the only thing that would help their mentality, as a former player himself he know what its like to be on the other end of these talks. Empathy is a very important trait to have in leadership, which leads into my next point.

This approach was especially effective because of the contrast between the serious instructions and the light-hearted jokes he made around the team. On several occasions, when the team had a bad start to the first half, he would give a team talk during the break that relieved tension with humour, raised their spirits, and focused them on victory with a serious tone at the end. This shift in atmosphere often led to countless comebacks. Of course, it didn't always guarantee a win, but I barely remember a game where the second half wasn’t played better than the first. Humour wasn’t the only thing that helped their mentality. As a former player himself, he knew what it was like to be on the other end of these talks. He could empathise with them because he had literally been in their shoes not too long ago; empathy is a very important trait in leadership, which leads to my next point.

There is one characteristic that transcends all management styles, conflict resolution strategies, and types of humour, found in all great leaders: that is high emotional intelligence (EQ). According to the Harvard Business Review, high EQ is a hallmark of virtually every good leader. Aspects of EQ can be broken down into self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, motivation, and social skills. This connection is why humour is also a common component; those with good senses of humour tend to possess higher social skills and self-awareness. Emotional intelligence is a complex topic, and a deeper exploration could be highly beneficial for those in leadership positions (perhaps in a future article). At the end go the day it is like any other skill, it can be honed and mastered to your benefit as a leader and manager.

Of course, there is no general rule that applies to universally, after all something made for everyone is made for no one. With this in mind it's important to consider what will work for you and your team. Try out various methods at different degrees in order to see which approaches at what levels are best suited to your teams’ cohesion and effectiveness. Balance humour and seriousness, as Dr. Shaquille O’Neal wisely said: “half serious 70% of the time.” This means you can lead with a light touch as long as your words are sincere and you know when to be serious. Meaning that you can direct and lead in a joking manner as long as your words hold true and more importantly that you recognise when it is time to dial the humour down when it matters. Be considerate to your team and their needs to create an environment where they can thrive. Good leaders adapt and evolve with their team, constantly learning and improving their own skills. Remember, leadership is a journey, not a destination.

In summary, effective leadership is a blend of management acumen, emotional intelligence, and the strategic use of humour. By honing these skills and adapting to the unique needs of your team, you can create a dynamic and productive work environment. Remember, the journey of leadership is ongoing, and the best leaders continually evolve alongside their teams.

Decker, W.H. and Rotondo, D.M. (2001) ‘Relationships Among Gender, Type Of Humor, And Perceived Leader Effectivenes’, Journal of Managerial Issues, 13(4), pp. 450–465.

Goleman, D. (1998) ‘What Makes A Leader’, Harvard Business Review, pp. 92–102. Available at: https://media.truelocal.com.au/1/1/125B03BC-9911-470A-97C9-9068679D7361/1348966626658_3WhatMakesALeader.pdf.

Munduate, L., Ganaza, J., Peiró, J.M. and Euwema, M. (1999), "PATTERNS OF STYLES IN CONFLICT MANAGEMENT AND EFFECTIVENESS", International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 10 No. 1, pp. 5-24. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb022816

Priest, R. F., & Swain, J. E. (2002). *Humor and its implications for leadership effectiveness. Humor - International Journal of Humor Research, 15(2).*doi:10.1515/humr.2002.010

Saeed, T., Almas, S., Anis-ul-Haq, M. and Niazi, G. (2014), "Leadership styles: relationship with conflict management styles", International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 25 No. 3, pp. 214-225. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCMA-12-2012-0091