Too Close for Comfort? The Research Behind Friending Your Followers

Let’s get one thing out of the way: Yes! You want to build high-quality relationships with your followers.

Research has consistently found that building close relationships with followers creates positive responses such as improved job performance, commitment, satisfaction and an increase in helping behavior.[1] Nevertheless, a study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology[2] suggests that bonding too strongly with employees can backfire in the short-term.

An examination of one-on-one “give and take” interactions among 73 pairs of leaders and their followers revealed that it was the followers closest to their leaders who provided less engagement and responsiveness shortly after their interactions.

Ultimately, followers with high-quality relationships with their leaders felt less obligated to immediately reciprocate resources, like information and advice, provided by leaders during one-on-one interactions.

While providing meaningful resources to followers helps increase engagement and responsiveness with them, it is important to note: The followers you are closest with may take advantage of this good rapport and take longer than more distant followers to fulfill immediate requests.

To strengthen your closest relationships, and ensure all your followers properly prioritize requests, be sure to set clear expectations and timelines for urgent tasks.

[1] Li, M. (2019). What have we learned from the 100-year history of leadership research? (Part I). https://fisher.osu.edu/blogs/leadreadtoday/blog/what-have-we-learned-from-the-100-year-history-of-leadership-research/

[2] Liao, Z., Liu, W., Li, X., & Song, Z. (2019). Give and take: An episodic perspective on leader-member exchange. Journal of Applied Psychology, 104, 34-51.