I recently watched an episode of the popular American medical comedy series 'Scrubs.' This episode had a character fresh out of the Iraq war who commented on the leadership skills of his sergeant. All through his scenes he talked about the good points of his sergeant so the audience believed he loved working under him. In the end however, he confessed that he and all the people under him hated him and his leadership style. The man overworked them and belittled them, but the private concerned believed that sometimes that is what a leader does. Part of leadership is about uniting people to work for a common cause and in this case they were united in their hatred for the awful sergeant which meant they bonded together against that common enemy.

How realistic is this idea of leadership? Obviously I am not suggesting a modern workplace is anything like an army training camp or a war, but can these leadership ideas translate? Having worked for many years in a variety of positions, I would say that bad leaders are unfortunately common and they are often hated by those under their command. I never once believed that this was intentional as a way of bonding staff together! In fact many of these people thought they were beloved by those underneath them and were often blissfully unaware of the conflict and animosity towards them.

Even if it was intentional, is this a quality of leadership which should be revered? I think it is important to go back to the first ideas of leadership implanted in us all and that was through the school system. Think of a teacher that you hated, my personal favourite was a physical education teach who appeared to hate children. We were always treated with disdain and disrespect and generally had a miserable and often terrifying experience in her care. This indeed united us in our hatred of this person as we huddled together for protection if nothing else.

Now think back to a teacher you loved, one who nurtured you and made you want to excel at the subject in hand, even if it was not a favourite. In my experience this was an English teacher. The entire class was just as united, but instead of united through fear, we were united in our love for the way we were treated. This did not mean we ran wild and were disrespectful. If anything we tried our best to please her and do well because we wanted her approval.

These qualities are no different now we are all adults. Learning to be a good leader is in many ways about uniting people towards a common goal. Those working for you must be prepared to work hard and for one cause, get on with each other regardless of personal feelings and to some extent simply do as they are instructed. It is a much better leader that achieves this through encouragement, rewards, realistic goal setting and respect. These leaders will get more out of their team than the leader who rules through fear.

An employee should be encouraged to use their initiative and work under their own steam. If something extra needs doing then it is helpful to have a range of willing and capable volunteers. Someone who rules through fear will miss out on these things since people will want to do as little as possible for that person. If they are never rewarded and encouraged then they will not be motivated. If they are berated and humiliated when things go wrong then they will be afraid to use their initiative and learn since they will be afraid to make mistake.

In conclusion, the leadership style that works best in a modern environment and gets the most out of their staff is the one that leads through good example and respect. This does not mean losing control or letting people get away with anything. Instead the respect given is expected to be returned and will be dealt with if it is not. Giving people the benefit of the doubt is not a sign of weakness. Employees should be allowed to prove themselves rather than being treated with an air of suspicion. In respect of this leadership style they will unite to work towards a common goal that benefits everyone in the team, so no, I do not believe that a leader should ever have to unite people through hatred of a common enemy.