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 The affiliative leader was first described by Daniel Goleman in connection with the six leadership styles he defined in his theory of Emotional Intelligence. As described by Goleman, affiliative leaders can be summarized individuals that are often more sensitive to the value of people than reaching goals.
The affiliative leader prides 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 in the hopes that these relationship will bring about a strong sense of loyalty in their followers.
Effectively Using Affiliative Leadership
The affiliative leader is a master at building relationships and this leadership style is most effective when there is a need to mend some bad feelings that may have developed in a group or to motivate others during times of heavy workload or 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 like a great place to be, 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 the recommendation is to use the affiliative leadership style in conjunction with a style that focuses on results.
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 affects their direct reports.
The findings of this study indicate that the affiliative leader has the second most positive impact of all leadership styles - trailing the authoritative leadership style. So this style is very effective in creating a very positive and upbeat place to work.
Affiliative leaders also provide their followers with a lot 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" among 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 a 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 appreciate for why mastering situational leadership skills are so important. 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 the 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 come a lot of ego-centric players. In this setting perhaps one of the greatest accomplishments of a manger 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 is quick to recognize the contributions of individual players and express his gratitude for the results we all see in the Win / Loss columns. If you think back about what he says in the press and how he treats his players, then you should have a good understanding of how effective an affiliative leader can be in the right setting.
About the Author - Affiliative Leaders
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