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Likability At The Workplace

The workplace is filled with employees of different personalities and traits.  And since each one need to work with others as part of an organization, teamwork and harmony become very valuable. The differences between each individual can affect the level of teamwork and the overall working environment, for better or for worse. It can also be the difference between being liked in the office or being avoided in some ways.

Liked Or Hated Colleague

Some employees may not care about either being liked or hated at the office. For some, just getting the job done and achieving more can be enough. But it seems that the likeability factor may also play a big role on how one may succeed in the workplace.

A Surprising Result

One report coming from the Harvard Business School has tried to look into the issue regarding competence and likability and which one will employees and managers prefer more. It seems that most people would prefer likability more than performance or competence in a co-worker. Although it may be quite a common fact for some that competence always gets the better of likability, the study showed the opposite being true.

According to the research results, overall preference tends to go to a person’s likability rather than competence and ability. Personal feelings seem to play an important role in developing working relationships way more than what was expected. Even manager seem to prefer some level of likability over competence.

Likability And Influence

Personal feelings seem to become a more influential factor in the workplace. When a superior seems to strongly dislike someone, it usually does not matter whether he or she is competent for the job. Just by the fact that people simply don’t like to work with him or her may determine how he or she may generally be perceived.

On the other hand, with a not-so competent but quite a likable person, colleagues may seem to look out for what little bit of competence he or she has to offer and it gets highlighted more. Generally speaking, having a little bit of extra likability points seem to work better and goes a longer way than having a little bit more of extra competence when it comes to the workplace and establishing work relationships.