Most leaders want to have engaged and effective teams. Research from the University of Bologna suggests that something the researchers refer to as “engaging leadership” may be key.

The researchers argue that engaged employees usually have a positive outlook toward their work, and this is reflected in their dedication and general absorption in it. Numerous previous studies have highlighted the boost to both performance and wellbeing from greater engagement at work.

Engaging leadership

It’s not surprising, therefore, that having an engaged workforce is highly desirable. The researchers wanted to test how important something referred to as “engaging leadership” is in producing such an engaged workforce. They define the concept as when leaders focus on providing autonomy for employees, while also helping them to feel competent and cared for.

They argue that previous studies into this concept have tended to focus on a single moment in time, so they tried to look over a longer timeframe. They examined 90 Dutch teams featuring over 1,000 employees, with participants completing two surveys, one year apart, to gauge the level of engaging leadership by their managers, as well as their own work engagement and various personal and team characteristics.

The results show that those managers who were perceived as engaging leaders in the first survey tended to enhance the engagement of their team in the second survey. This was primarily through improvements in the psychological resources of each employee, which include things such as resiliency, flexibility, optimism, and self-efficacy.

Effective teams

This unsurprisingly had a corresponding impact on the efficacy of teams as engaging leaders were able to bolster the resources utilized by their teams. The teams were more trusting, had better communication, provided more effective feedback, and engaged people in decisions more frequently.

The researchers believe that their findings highlight the importance of engaging leadership in terms of boosting both employee engagement and team effectiveness.

“A leader who inspires, strengthens and connects team members fosters a shared perception of available resources (in terms of performance feedback, trust in management, communication, and participation in decision-making), and a greater psychological capital (i.e., self-efficacy, optimism, resilience, and flexibility),” they conclude.