A HR Magazine article discusses the tricky issue of charismatic leadership. How do managers achieve it? Is it a talent that you’re born with?
HR Magazine’s research suggests that charisma is more about how employees view their leaders and how they feel about them rather than an innate characteristic. It shouldn’t be defined as a set of behaviours but as the quality of the relationship between two parties. Followers are an important part of the dynamic as they allow the leader the opportunity to be regarded as charismatic and respond positively to their leadership. However, the research goes further and investigates the link between charisma and love. After speaking to executives and MBA students, it was discovered that people often used emotion to describe a person whom they viewed as charismatic.
From there, the project used movie genre narratives to define different types of leader relationships. Charismatic leadership was equated with comedy and family movies, while the opposite was associated with horror films. Clusters of experience with leaders revolved around positive effect (eg, ‘leadership by example’), positive and negative effect (eg, ‘chalk and cheese’) and anger (eg, ‘fighting a war’).The work suggested to the researchers that the relationship with a charismatic leader can be perceived as love/hate. However, it’s important to note that charisma is given and defined by the followers.
The research suggests that managers should take on the identities that emerged from their work to help them understand behaviour that is aligned with sympathetic and effective role models. In doing this, managers can be more confident that they are having a ‘charismatic impact’ on their employees. This will generate more positive emotions among their teams and improve employees’ ability to identify with their leaders and be sure what they stand for.
You can read the full article here: Charisma can go hand-in-hand with being influential.
