Leaders Who Bring People Together

Key Takeaways:

• America needs strong leadership right now to heal a divided population.
• Leaders can reduce conflict by empowering other to resolve difficulties.
• Ethical leadership in particular is needed for this empowerment.

America has done it!  We made it through the 2020 election, and what an election that was.  It was a tough battle, but we are ready for what’s next.  So what’s next?

President-elect Joe Biden (and vice president-elect Kamala Harris, who I recently wrote about) have a lot on their to-do list.  As leaders during this particular time, I argue that one of their top priorities right now should be bringing people in this country together and unifying Americans.  The 2020 U.S. election has been bitter and divisive, but with a global pandemic raging and an economic downturn affecting so many people, it’s time for Americans to come together to solve society’s problems and make a better future for everyone.

How can leaders help unify people and bring everyone together?  Research on workplace conflict management can shed light on this question.  A study by Mayowa Babalola and colleagues (2018) examined this and their work can tell us a lot about how leaders can help reduce conflict among people[1].

In their study, they looked at how leadership can be related to three types of conflict at work: relationship conflict, task conflict and process conflict.  They found a few interesting things. 

1. First, good leadership was related to lower levels of all types of conflict — not just because the leaders directly affected levels of conflict at work but also because leadership had an effect on resolution efficacy.  By this I mean good leadership resulted in employees feeling as though they had the skills and ability to resolve conflicts themselves.  It seems that good leaders acted as models for the employees to follow; they demonstrate how to act, and that empowers followers to believe they can do it too.
2. Second, they didn’t find their results for any type of leadership; it was ethical leadership in particular.  Ethical leadership refers to leaders having strong, clear and consistent morals and values — and being very open and public about this with their followers. In this study, demonstrating a strong ethical code was specifically what led to followers’ resolution efficacy (i.e., followers being able to solve conflicts on their own).

What does this mean for where the United States is right now? The study would suggest that Biden and Harris need to be ethical leaders.  They need to show the world that they will follow principles and their values in every aspect of their leadership, even when it’s difficult.  This will have a top-down effect on our country as a whole in that people will feel more empowered to resolve conflicts and come together.

Organizational leaders can take heed of this too.  You can directly help resolve conflicts between your followers, but empowering them to help with this can be even more effective and efficient for all.  The key to this seems to be ethical leadership, though: Demonstrate a strong moral code as a leader and it will have positive effects on your followers and organization as a whole.

Now is the time for us to come together!

[1] Babalola, M. T., Stouten, J., Euwema, M. C., & Ovadje, F. (2018). The relation between ethical leadership and workplace conflicts: The mediating role of employee resolution efficacy. Journal of Management, 44(5), 2037–2063.