The time-worn adage that nice guys finish last isn't exactly true.
Growing research shows that likable employees may have
more success on the job.
Likability can even trump competence.
A study this year in the Harvard Business Review
found that personal feelings toward an employee play a
more important role in forming work relationships than
is commonly acknowledged. It is even more important than
how competent an employee is seen to be.
The Likeability Factor by
Tim Sanders, which was published this year, explores how
having an appealing personality can positively influence
life and careers.
"Life is a popularity contest," Sanders
says. "We want to work with people that make us feel good
to be around them. Likability is the tiebreaker to almost
anything."
Likability is hard to define, but
Sanders says people gravitate toward others who deliver
psychological benefits. In other words, likability is
the ability to produce a positive emotional experience
in someone else, such as making co-workers feel good about
themselves.
How likable an employee is can be
critical:
•Likable employees are favored
by co-workers. The Harvard Business Review study
found that employees don't want to work with someone who
is disliked, and it almost doesn't matter how skilled
they are.
Co-workers would rather work with
the likable colleague, according to the research by Harvard
Business School professor Tiziana Casciaro and Duke University
assistant professor Miguel Sousa Lobo.
"Organizations have traditionally
focused on competencies and thinking ability of their
staff. There is growing recognition, however, that job
effectiveness can be undone if an employee is not likable,"
Susan David, a psychologist and researcher at Yale University,
says in an e-mail.
"Being proficient at job tasks is
of little comfort to the organization if an employee alienates
clients or other staff."
•How likable an employee
is can also influence customers. Research has found
customers' perceptions of the employees they deal with
can influence their overall feelings toward a company.
Nearly 60% of customers say that,
when faced with rudeness, they take their business elsewhere,
even if it means going out of their way or paying a higher
price, according to a survey by Eticon, a Columbia, S.C.-based
provider of etiquette consulting for business.
At Pop Diner in New York, a busy
staff is also known by its customers as friendly. Co-owner
Nick Tsakonas says that's no accident.
He believes having a friendly wait
staff can influence his customers' perceptions of the
restaurant, even if something goes awry.
"You could tell me you're a waiter
at The Waldorf-Astoria, and that doesn't cut it with me.
You have to have personality," Tsakonas says. "Even if
a mistake happens, a good personality will wipe that out."
•Likability can help career
advancement. Likable employees are also more likely
to get bigger pay raises and promotions. Employees with
skills in relationship building are often seen as valuable
to an organization, Sanders says.
Some employees say their pleasant
personalities have helped them to get ahead.
Cara Halstead Cea, in Pleasantville,
N.Y., is one of the public relations officers at Pace
University. She describes herself as "outgoing, friendly,
and I'm told I'm easygoing."
"My bosses tend to like me as do
clients, co-workers, customers (and) business contacts,
which has allowed me the freedom to do what I need to
do to get the job done without a boss breathing down my
neck and checking on my every move," Halstead Cea says.
"I think this has helped me be efficient and effective
in the work that I do."
A collaborative workplace
Co-workers who work with a likable
colleague are more comfortable with them, so work tends
to be more collaborative.
Some employers say likable employees
are so important that they won't hire anyone they think
may have an attitude. Richard Laermer, chief executive
of New York-based RLM Public Relations, says he once had
an employee who was so unlikable that she berated a client's
product and chastised co-workers. Laermer says he ultimately
let her go.
"Then I did something I'd never done
before," he says. "I called all the managers into my office,
and we had champagne."
After that, he says, he went out
of his way to gauge potential employees' personalities
as well as their skills.
"No matter how experienced or valuable
someone is, if they're mean to people, they're pretty
much useless. I can't work with someone who isn't nice."
But there can also be a downside.
Likable employees who lack skills or are seen as pushovers
can lose out on management opportunities or can be seen
as a liability, says Alexandra Levit, author of They
Don't Teach Corporate in College: A Twenty-Something's
Guide to the Business World.
Managers who are too likable can
get too sociable with their subordinates, blurring the
line between boss and friend. And younger Generation X
or Generation Y employees can try so hard to be liked
that they come across as overly enthusiastic.
"There's a tendency of young people,
and even midcareer people, to say 'yes' all the time.
In an effort to please, they do get pushed around. They
get assigned too many tasks," Levit says. "Likability
can be dangerous. Young people can be too enthusiastic,
and it can irritate management. You can be too 'rah rah.'
"
But some employers say likability
is still an important attribute. Tory Johnson, CEO of
New York- based Women for Hire, which provides career
fairs for women, says women may try too hard, which can
come across as unfocused or desperate. And while she doesn't
hire employees just because they are nice, she does say
that personality is key.
In fact, it can even help employees
keep their jobs when performance is lacking.
"As an employer, likability is more
important to me than possession of specific skills or
experience. You can provide training to compensate for
missing skills, but it's almost impossible to compensate
for personality," Johnson says in an e-mail.
"It's never worth hiring someone
you dislike, or someone who's likely to be disliked among
staffers."
Instead of terminating someone, she
says, she's "moved poor performers into other functions
within my company because I really liked the people."
