Our family life affects how we feel and perhaps perform at work. This is true also for those of us in leadership positions. But a difference is leaders are responsible for motivating and inspiring others. If the family life of the leader affects the leader at work, thus spilling over into the workplace, how does this affect their followers? Some spillover (home life conflicts) could be negative; others (enriching family life experiences) could be positive.

A study published in Personnel Psychology in 2014 addressed these questions.  Lieke ten Brummelhuis and her colleagues reviewed the research literature on work-family studies. Their review found:

• Employees with more family conflict tend to be more cynical and exhausted at work.
  
• Employees with positive, satisfying family lives tend to be more engaged at work.
  
• Leaders can help followers with work-life issues simply by being and acting with greater understanding, thus increasing followers’ commitment and engagement. 
  
• There was no research on the impact of family-life on leaders themselves.
  
• There was no research on the consequences of the family-life of leaders on the followers of leaders. 

So ten Brummelhuis and her associates addressed these areas where there had been no research. They focused especially on consequences for followers. To do so, they studied about 200 managers and 450 followers of these managers in 260 organizations in New Zealand. Their method was multiple surveys. In the first survey, they sought to determine the degree to which the family life of each leader was enriching or a source of conflict. A month later they measured each leader’s work engagement, burnout, and positive/negative affect. A week after this second leader survey, they surveyed each leader’s followers. The followers answered questions about their work engagement, their burnout, their positive or negative affect, and questions about their supervisor’s supportive behaviors.

Their findings:

• Family conflict was very strongly correlated with leader burnout.
  
• Leader burnout and negative emotions were strongly correlated with followers’ burnout and negative emotions.
  
• Leaders with family conflicts appear to have “detrimental effects at work” with their followers having more negative feelings and experiencing less support from their leaders. 
  
• Enriched family experiences were positively related to leader work engagement.
  
• These enriching family experiences of the leader also were strongly related to positive emotions in followers.
  
• Leaders with good family life experiences were more likely to have more engaged followers but were not necessarily seen as more supportive.  
  

My take-aways:

1. Our lives outside of work impact our work lives. And vice versa. Why should it be any different for leaders? The reality is that people in leadership positions have greater impact on others and their organizations. The research discussed here suggests that a negative family life, a family life with conflicts, can spill over into the workplace, not only affecting the leader but also followers.

2. I find this to be an important research finding, especially if supported by other studies. Perhaps this is one reason some leaders in senior positions appear more stoic, demonstrating less emotion. Emotional leaders may result in enthusiastic, motivated employees – but only if these emotions are positive and affirming. If the emotions are negative, then the workplace can become a difficult place.

3. As leaders we need to consider the impact of our emotions on others, regardless of the source. And as senior leaders, we need to have our antennae up to help leaders below us in the hierarchy when the needs arises. Be mindful and supportive.

Ten Brummelhuis, L., Haar, J. M., & Roche, M. (2014). Does family life help to be a better leader? Cross-over of work attitudes from leaders to followers. Personnel Psychology, 67 (4), 917–949.

"Family Portrait" by Eric Ward. Obtained from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Family_Portrait.jpg
Used with permission: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en
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Decoding the Workplace: 50 Keys to Understanding People in Organizations, coming in May, 
http://www.abc-clio.com/Praeger/product.aspx?pc=A4781C

Have you worked for a histrionic boss? People with histrionic inclinations tend to behave and make decisions “more from emotion than from reason” and, according to a recent article, can create a destructive dynamic in the workplace. René Muller (The John Hopkins University School of Medicine) discussed the histrionic manager in The Humanistic Psychologist.

Muller argued histrionic managers can cause “considerable suffering in the workplace, as well as lost productivity and revenue” (p. 402). Histrionic managers operate primarily based on emotion. Reason takes a backseat. They tend often to:

•  “not to see to the heart of things” 
  
• exaggerate information
  
• overact to matters that could be handled more easily by rational discussion
  
• have flawed understandings
  
• have trigger points that set them off “sometimes angrily and aggressively”
  
• have “hyper suspiciousness”
  
• be sources of stress, frustration, anxiety for others

Muller’s observations were derived from “interactions with at least 10 managers who displayed this pathological style” (p. 402). He did not argue that these managers diagnostically would be classified with a histrionic personality disorder. Rather he argued that these managers displayed some of the same behavioral traits.

Intrigued by  Muller’s discussion, I researched histrionic managers in peer-reviewed journals. I found only one study. In 2005 Board and Fritzon (University of Surrey) compared personality data (MMPI-PD) from 39 senior business managers (male, British) with personality data from over 1000 male hospital patients who had been diagnosed with mental illness, psychopathic disorder, or other psychiatric problems. One of the 11 MMPI scales measured histrionic tendencies. The senior managers scored higher on the histrionic scale, significantly higher, than the hospital patients (t-test, p < .0045). In this study senior managers were more likely to have histrionic behaviors that the patients. Board and Fritzon concluded these senior managers were more likely to display “superficial charm, insincerity, egocentricity, manipulativeness” (p. 25).

My take-aways:

1. It is difficult to draw conclusions from two studies, one naturalistic, the other a limited sample. Even so the concept of the histrionic manager, or managers with histrionic tendencies, would seem worthy of more study.

2. Muller emphasized the potentially harmful effects of such managers. His experiences were up close, personal, and negative. Are there managers, even leaders, who operate more from emotion, who have people running scared? Yes. Working with such managers is clearly challenging with no easy answers.

3. Board and Fritzon suggested histrionic behaviors were consistent with achieving high management positions. They administered a personality inventory, or obtained that data, and did statistical analyses. Are there some elements of histrionic behavior in high achieving individuals? Perhaps some. Perhaps sometimes.

4. There may be times when even the best leader has an emotional outburst. The key is not to make it a way of life.

Board, B. J., & Fritzon, K. (2005). Disordered personalities at work. Psychology, Crime & Law, 11 (1): 17-32.

Muller, R. (2014). Histrionic managers wreck havoc in the workplace: Identifying the phenomenon. The Humanistic Psychologist, 42, 402-412.

"Challenge"  © John Ballard, 2015
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Decoding the Workplace: 50 Keys to Understanding People in Organizations, coming in May, 
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I start each new year with a question:  What book are you reading now? Charlie Rose in his nightly program of interviews sometimes poses a similar question to his famous guests, most of whom are national or international leaders in their professions. They always seem to have a book they are reading about which they have opinions, insights, comments. So here I repost my annual blog with a few modifications.

Lifelong learning is essential to grow as a leader. A  habit of reading books is important to that growth. Wayne Hulbert made that argument several years ago in his blog. He suggested that you start with books from your area of business and branch out from there. To quote Hulbert, “Let a book be your ship as you sail that wonderful journey to the land of lifelong learning.”

But how do you nurture book reading in those who do not enjoy reading. There is some evidence that younger people read more if you count the Internet but read less if you count book reading. The Harry Potter series engaged many young minds. How will that translate into other books as they age? 

For those of us in education, we lead by example.  We share our stories, the role books have played in our lives. As parents, we read to our children. I had an aunt who read to me in my very early formative years. She nurtured my love of books.

What role do books play in your life? In your learning? My guess is that for many, we just don’t have enough time. Is reading books a habit for you? If not, is reading books something you would want to be a habit? 


My favorite books read in 2014? The Martian by Andy Weir was just a fun read from beginning to end. Highly recommend for sci fi fans. I also enjoyed Card's Ender's Game (Book 1) and Crichton's Sphere. For business books, I have mostly been reading again favorite classics, works by Abraham Maslow, Mary Follett, Peter Drucker, and Douglas McGregor. 

Here are books on my reading list as we begin 2015:


Napoleon by Andrew Roberts
David by David Wolpe
Indonesia Etc by Elizabeth Pisani
Business Adventures by John Brooks
Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds
The Beatles Lyrics by Hunter Davies
Beyond the First Draft by John Casey 

“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them”, Mark Twain. 

Or as the comedian Groucho Marx said, “Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.  Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.”   

What are you reading?


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Decoding the Workplace: 50 Keys to Understanding People in Organizations, coming in May, 
http://www.abc-clio.com/Praeger/product.aspx?pc=A4781C