Leadership expert says political skills important to leader satisfaction https://phys.org/news/2016-10-leadership-expert-political-skills-importan...

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Home Other Sciences Social Sciences October 5, 2016

Leadership expert says political skills important to leader

satisfaction
October 5, 2016 by Stephanie Jacques

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Andrew Wefald, an author of "Transformational leader attributes" and associate professor,

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Studies, says political skill—the ability to build connections, foster trust and
influence other people—is a fundamental quality of a transformational leader more »

and being good at it can increase job satisfaction and engagement.

"Most people think of political skills as manipulative and negative but,

basically, it is building connections with other people," Wefald said. "In a
positive sense, politically skilled people foster supportive and trusting
environments to benefit organizations and are going to be more
transformational leaders, which will lead to higher job satisfaction."

Wefald and his collaborators—Kansas State University alumni Kyle van

Ittersum, assistant professor at Angelo State University, and Jennifer Mencl, Phys.org on facebook
associate professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth—recently published
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"Transformational leader attributes: interpersonal skills, engagement, and

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Leadership expert says political skills important to leader satisfaction https://phys.org/news/2016-10-leadership-expert-political-skills-importan...

political skill was the only skill to have an independent positive relationship Jul 27, 2015

with transformational leaders and their job satisfaction.

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"Think of the best boss you ever had—most likely they were very politically Why do we have children? Jul 10, 2015
skilled," Wefald said. "Leading without political skills is possible but it is going
More from Social Sciences
to be like wearing a weighted vest."

Wefald said there are four components of political skills: networking ability,
apparent sincerity, social astuteness and interpersonal influence.

"These are all things a good leader is going to be able to do," Wefald said.
"Someone with those skills is going to be in a better position to help the
organization because they will be better able to get things done than
someone who doesn't have those skills."

The researchers dug deeper and looked at the relationship of high political
skills to participants' reported work engagement and job satisfaction. Those
who were highly engaged in their work had high transformational leadership
skills and high political skills.

"Work engagement is the level of a person's physical, mental and emotional

energy with their job and if they are fulfilled from that work," Wefald said.
"Being engaged at work leads to several positives for the individual, such as
more energy and stamina, and the organization, such as less employee turn
over."

Wefald said organizations could use this information to develop employees'

political skill or select employees with those skills.

"It is a developable skill but there are many personality traits and variables
that may prevent a person from developing a high level of the skill from
nothing," Wefald said. "Some people's window might be wider, some people's
might be narrower—it's just going to depend on the person they are and their
personality."

According to Wefald, developing political skill to increase engagement and

satisfaction, particularly among managers, will benefit any organization.

"Any time you have people who are in hierarchical groups and limited
resources—which is every organization ever—you are going to have people
vying for access and control over those resources," Wefald said. "That's
politics. Someone who is able to get along with everybody, get things done
and is on board with the projects being done is going to help an organization
as well as his or her own career."

Explore further: Study sheds light on factors affecting employees'

commitment

More information: Jennifer Mencl et al, Transformational leader attributes:

interpersonal skills, engagement, and well-being, Leadership & Organization
Development Journal (2016). DOI: 10.1108/LODJ-09-2014-0178

Provided by: Kansas State University 1 shares

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Leadership expert says political skills important to leader satisfaction https://phys.org/news/2016-10-leadership-expert-political-skills-importan...

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