A new study in the Journal of Organizational Behavior reveals that humble leadership in the workplace boosts employees’ sense of respect and prominence, leading to increased leadership potential. Humble leadership behaviors, such as acknowledging personal limitations, appreciating employees’ strengths, and demonstrating teachability, were found to elevate employees’ workplace status, which in turn motivates them to take on leadership roles and initiatives.
Humble leadership is characterized by leaders who openly acknowledge their limitations, value the contributions of others, and remain open to learning. This approach not only fosters a supportive and collaborative workplace but also helps employees feel respected and valued.
Previous research has shown that humble leadership enhances various outcomes like work engagement, team innovation, and overall well-being. However, the specific mechanism of how humble leadership elevates employees’ status and leadership potential had not been thoroughly investigated until this study.
To understand the impact of humble leadership on employees’ workplace status and leadership potential, the researchers conducted two comprehensive field studies. The first study was set in China and involved employees from various service industries. The researchers reached out to organizations through personal networks and collected data in three stages over six weeks.
At the first stage, employees rated their supervisors’ humility, their own individualistic orientation, and provided demographic information. Two weeks later, these employees rated their perceived workplace status. Finally, supervisors rated the employees’ motivation to lead and their taking charge behaviors. The final sample consisted of 216 matched supervisor-subordinate pairs.
The second study mirrored the first but was conducted online via the platform Prolific, targeting employees from Western countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. This study also collected data in three stages, with two-week intervals, ensuring a similar multi-wave, multi-source design.
At each stage, employees and their supervisors provided ratings on humble leadership, perceived workplace status, motivation to lead, and taking charge behaviors. The final sample included 210 participants, ensuring a broad cultural representation to validate the findings across different contexts.
The study’s findings were consistent across both the Eastern and Western contexts. Firstly, humble leadership was positively correlated with employees’ perceived workplace status. Employees felt more respected and prominent when their leaders admitted mistakes, appreciated their strengths, and were open to learning from them. This elevation in perceived status was stronger for employees with a high individualistic orientation, who are more sensitive to status cues and driven by a desire for recognition and personal uniqueness.
Moreover, the increased workplace status resulting from humble leadership translated into greater motivation to lead and proactive behaviors such as taking charge. Employees with higher perceived status were more likely to aspire to leadership roles and engage in activities demonstrating leadership potential. This correlation held true across both cultural contexts, indicating the universal applicability of humble leadership’s benefits.
The study highlights the importance of humble leadership in fostering a supportive and empowering workplace environment. Organizations should invest in training programs to help leaders develop and express humility, which includes acknowledging their limitations, appreciating employees’ contributions, and being open to learning from others. Performance management systems should also incorporate humility as a key leadership trait to encourage and reward humble leadership behaviors.
“Understanding and implementing humble leadership is essential as it’s been shown to positively impact individual and team outcomes in the workplace including work engagement, proactive behaviour, wellbeing and resilience and increased innovation, learning and performance,” said study author Xiaoshuang Lin, a senior lecturer at the University of South Australia and a member of the Centre for Workplace Excellence.
“Humble leadership is a powerful tool for lifting employees’ status and unlocking their potential, leading to a more engaged, innovative and high-performing workplace. It can also help build a pool of effective leaders for the future. By fostering the leadership potential of employees, organisations can maintain competitive advantages.”
Lin explained that employees’ responses to humble leadership vary based on their personal characteristics, with those focused on individual development and competition reacting more positively. On the other hand, “people who don’t place as much value on their own development and success in the workplace are less likely to benefit from humble leadership behaviors. These sorts of employees will do whatever the leaders tell them. They have no interest in teaching their leaders or displaying their own strengths or contributions.”
The study, “How do humble leaders unleash followers’ leadership potential? The roles of workplace status and individualistic orientation,” was authored by Xiaoshuang Lin, Herman H. M. Tse, Bo Shao, and Jinyun Duan.
