What Is the Connection between Leadership and Job Satisfaction?

The connection between leadership and job satisfaction is a factor of the business culture that can have far-reaching consequences. In the best of scenarios, managers and other leaders within the company structure inspire employees to take pride in their work and also feel competent in the tasks they are assigned. This goal is pursued using a number of different strategies, helping to create a working situation that enhances employee satisfaction in general, and satisfaction with the job in particular. The end result is that the company enjoys a higher level of productivity, there is a lower amount of employee turnover, and the working environment tends to be more stable and appealing.

There is no doubt that exercising responsible leadership will lead to high job satisfaction among employees. While there is no single right way to motivate employees to find fulfillment in the work assigned to them, astute and observant managers will often find that using a few basic strategies will make the positive connection between leadership and job satisfaction more apparent. Many of those strategies are built around the cultivation and maintenance of an open line of communication between managers and the employees they oversee.

One of the more effective paths to effective leadership and job satisfaction is establishing rapport between company leaders and the employees they manage. Ideally, the management process will be structured in a manner that allows the manager to be accessible to every employee on the team. Employees should feel free to bring matters of concern to the manager and know that the concerns will be considered seriously. In turn, the manager will make the proactive effort to understand both the strengths and the weaknesses of each employee, help the employee when improvement is necessary and generally help that employee master the skills necessary to be more productive. Adopting this type of give and take situation in the workplace often helps employees to feel more invested in the company and in their particular team, helping to forge a link between leadership and job satisfaction that could not exist otherwise.

Cultivating the working relationships that serve to support responsible leadership and job satisfaction in the workplace is not a task that is managed overnight. In some cases, it may take weeks or even longer for employees and managers to begin trusting one another and establish the open rapport that occurs when there is mutual respect and a willingness to communicate. For this reason, many managers see this type of effort as an ongoing part of their responsibilities, with an eye to always becoming better communicators and discerning what individual employees need in order to really appreciate and enjoy their jobs.