While Winston Churchill primarily adopted a job-centric leadership style, he did display signs of having adopted some elements of employee-centric leadership as well. Overall, this helped to create a more balanced leadership style in which the coldness that a job-centric leadership style was tempered by the warmth that employee centricity brings, endearing his followers to him and ultimately creating a more effective team.
Valuing Team Welfare
Churchill did not neglect the welfare of his team, as one is want to do under great duress. As Minister of Munitions in wartime Britain, Churchill understood that the intense pressure his team was constantly placed under, as well as the diversity of opinions in a highly intelligent team, naturally led to burn outs and conflicts.
Therefore, he took measures to improve and build positive interpersonal relationships between ministers by organizing social occasions out of the office. He formed a “luncheon club” for the approximately 70-strong munitions ministry with the dual intention of helping them to release stress while encouraging interaction between ministers outside of a political or work setting. And it’s why he is known for many things over his life – and not just his leadership abilities.
Churchill hoped that through increased interaction in a relaxed setting, members of the ministry could increase their understanding of each other and recognise each others’ strengths and weaknesses, fostering greater mutual understanding and deepening relationships. Ultimately, this not only aided in stress relief—the creation of a more positive and harmonious work environment very likely facilitated smoother discussions that increased work efficiency as members felt like a part of a team working towards a common objective.
Valuing Participative Discussion
In addition to valuing team welfare, Churchill also welcomed the contribution of others’ opinions during meetings, thereby showing that he greatly valued the individual opinions of his ‘employees’. He never rejected or pushed away views and suggestions differing from him his own—as one might have expected of such a forcefully dominant leader. Above being overly job-orientated, Churchill’s valuing of his subordinates’ views made them feel valued and therefore, potentially improved their sense of worth by boosting their morale and self-concept.
While this may be more indicative of a democratic style of leadership, it may also be considered to be a sign of valuing employee welfare as it very likely boosted their perceived importance in Churchill as well as their own eyes. As this overlaps with our segment discussing Churchill’s autocratic vs democratic leadership style, it shall not be discussed further here.