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Effective Leaders Encourage Participation

August 15, 2002

"Effective leaders make people feel like members of the team by being accessible to them, and showing, not just saying, that they care about them.  They also minimize the number of levels of management and the status differences between those levels, because they know that a team can't be built out of people who feel unequal.

This style of leadership encourages a kind of participation which empowers not just their subordinates but the leaders themselves, because it puts the maximum number of people on their side, sharing their goals and moving with them.  Without this sense of participation, subordinates may appear to go along, but their resentment is likely to come out in other ways (Morreall, 1997, p. 207). "

Reference:  Morreall, J. (1997).  Humor works.  Amherst, MA: HRD Press.

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Created: 2008-12-13, Updated: 2009-01-06