Affiliative Leaders

The affiliative leader was first described by Daniel Goleman in connection with the six leadership styles defined in his theory of Emotional Intelligence. As described by Goleman, affiliative leaders can be summarized as individuals that are often more sensitive to the value of people than reaching goals.

Affiliative leaders pride themselves on their ability to keep employees happy, and create a harmonious work environment. These leaders attempt to build strong relationships with those being led, with the hope that these relationships will bring about a strong sense of loyalty in their followers.

Effectively Using Affiliative Leadership

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The affiliative leader is a master at building relationships. This leadership style is most effective when there is a need to mend bad feelings that may have developed in a group, or to motivate others during times of heavy workload and stress. As expressed by Goleman, the affiliative leader is best described by the phrase "people come first."

Pros and Cons of Affiliative Leadership

While working for an affiliative leader might sound promising, this leadership style does have its limits. As you'll soon discover, mediocre results may quickly follow if this is the only leadership style used. That's why it's advisable to use the affiliative leadership style in conjunction with a style that focuses on achieving business results too.

Pros of Affiliative Leaders

Studies conducted by Hay / McBer examined the observations of thousands of executives trying to understand their behaviors, and their impact on the work environment. This team wanted to better understand how a particular leadership approach influences their direct reports.

The findings of this study indicate that the affiliative leader has the second most positive impact of all leadership styles, trailing behind the authoritative leadership style. This means the affiliative leadership style is very effective in creating a positive and upbeat place to work.

Affiliative leaders also provide their followers with plenty of positive feedback. They are quick to recognize the efforts of others, and provide rewards for a job well done. They build a sense of belonging among team members, and are extremely effective at "patching things up" between members of the team.

Cons of Affiliative Leaders

As was the case with the authoritative leadership style, the affiliative style is not one that a leader will want to practice all the time. While affiliative leaders are great at providing positive feedback and motivating team members, they often shy away from dealing with under-performing members of the team.

Since poor performance can go unchecked in the team, some employees might get the impression that mediocre performance is good enough. This can lead to a rapid deterioration in overall team performance.

Affiliative leaders are also ineffective when the team is faced with complex challenges. In fact, because the leader provides strictly positive feedback, they can inadvertently motivate their followers to continue down the wrong path.

Examining the pros and cons of the affiliative leadership style should help you get a better appreciation for the need to master several situational leadership skills. To be an effective leader, you need to know multiple leadership styles, and when is the most appropriate time to stop or start using a particular style.

Examples of Affiliative Leaders

If you've been working for a number of years, it's pretty easy to visualize a manager that provides a good example of an affiliative leader. They were upbeat, took you to lunch, remembered all of life's special events, and were always telling you what a good job you were doing.

Joe Torre

The classic example of an affiliative leader - and the one often cited by Goleman - is Joe Torre, the ex-manager of the New York Yankees. Just think about the challenges faced by the manager of a professional baseball team. And the New York Yankees are not just any team.

Joe Torre was the manager of one of the most talented teams in all of baseball. And with all that talent in one place, there are going to be many ego-centric players to deal with too. In this setting, perhaps one of the greatest accomplishments of a manager is simply holding the team together, and building a sense of harmony among teammates. This is a skill that the affiliative leader has mastered - and so has Joe Torre.

Joe was quick to recognize the contributions of individual players, and express his gratitude for the results we saw in the Win / Loss columns. If you look back at his positive statements in the press, and how well he treated his players, then you should have a good understanding of how effective an affiliative leader can be in the right setting.

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