The distant, aloof manager is a hangover from Ford and Taylor. NSC Group's surveying of more than 600 employees indicates that emotionally disconnected, aloof management remains a lived experience for far too many of them. This paper asks what leader communication actually does to organisational performance.
A myth we inherited
Since the establishment of management at the turn of the twentieth century, work has changed faster and more deeply than the management practices applied to it. Henry Ford and Frederick Taylor perfected the physical and emotional separation of managers and workers.
With the rise of service industries, products delivered as a service, compulsory education, the advancement of human rights, and the changing expectations of successive generations of workers, the distant role of the manager is changing — though plenty of employees still experience the command and control version of it.
Is it acceptable in the twenty-first century for managers to direct workers with no recognition of either party's emotional state? Does emotionally disconnected management deliver the performance outcomes stakeholders expect?
Word, deed and emotion
The word of a leader is highly influential on the behaviour of followers, but it does not operate in isolation. It is directly connected to the leader's emotions, and the word is often the transmission mechanism for the emotion, alongside non-verbal communication.
That influence rests on the open-loop character of the human limbic system, which relies on interpersonal regulation — external sources of emotion — to regulate itself. In conversation, two people's breathing and heart rates align within about fifteen minutes; emotionally we do the same, smiling, laughing and mirroring posture. In groups of strangers sitting in silence, the most emotionally expressive individual transmits their mood to the others within minutes.
Leaders therefore do more than communicate content. They communicate how we should understand, feel about and act upon the information we have been given. A leader speaking enthusiastically about change in a clear, open and transparent manner reduces anxiety and resistance and encourages early adoption. The reverse is equally true, and people are very good at detecting fakes.
A systems view
The achievement of high performance is not a single process. It is a system of multiple processes working in harmony to create an environment in which engaged employees deliver excellence in human performance and drive exceptional organisational outcomes.
We approach the leader and communication from a systems thinking perspective, with the intention of understanding what impact leader communication has on the achievement of organisational high performance. Our hypothesis is that leadership shapes engagement and performance by directly influencing deep human emotive states of vulnerability, whole-heartedness and trust, through the leader's ability to resonate with employees.