The Leadership Ratio That Matters Most – Admired Leadership (2024)

A Daily Dispatch from the Front Lines of Leadership.

The Leadership Ratio That Matters Most – Admired Leadership (1)

  • March 26, 2024

The most important ratio for a leader is not debt to equity, supervisor to employee, efficiency to cost, or price to earnings. The ratio that matters most for leadership success is theproportionof praise to criticism.

Leadership at its core is aboutmaking people and situations better. To help a colleague improve, leaders can emphasize what they believe the team member should amplify or do more of, or what they should do differently. Getting a colleague to do more of what they already do is all about positive reinforcement, such as praise, encouragement, compliment, and applause. To encourage others to do things differently, leaders turn to feedback, criticism, advice, and suggestion.

The ratio of praise to criticism most defines leadership success in making others better. This is true independent of the performance or the quality of the advice or feedback offered. People respond best and make changes when the praise and encouragement are in the correct proportion to the recommendation and feedback they receive.

Too much criticism and not enough encouragement, and people feel overwhelmed by the expectations and disappointment leaders project. Too much praise and not enough feedback, and people feel self-satisfied and lose their desire to grow.

Study the best leaders in virtually any arena of leadership and you will find a ratio of praise to criticism of roughly 5-to-1. Even the most demanding coaches, instructors, trainers, tutors, and supervisors, who are those who also wildly succeed at developing people, find their way to this powerful ratio.

While they may strike a more even balance of positive-to-negative feedback in a given lesson or review, the general composite of their interaction with team members, family members, and colleagues is to pile up more encouragement than suggestion. It is this ratio that gives colleagues the confidence and support they need to improve. As marriage guru John Gottman has shown, this ratio even predicts satisfaction between intimate partners.

Take a hard look at your ratio of praise to criticism. What do you project as a leader to others? Are you too heavy with criticism or too light with praise? Strive to find this critical ratio in everything you say to others. Whatever you do the most often reflects the ratio of who you are as a leader. Five parts encouragement to one part advice gets the job done best.

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The Leadership Ratio That Matters Most – Admired Leadership (2)

The Leadership Ratio That Matters Most – Admired Leadership (2024)

FAQs

The Leadership Ratio That Matters Most – Admired Leadership? ›

The most important ratio for a leader is not debt to equity, supervisor to employee, efficiency to cost, or price to earnings. The ratio that matters most for leadership success is the proportion of praise to criticism.

What is a good leadership ratio? ›

The ideal ratio is also referred to as 70-20-10. There is an excellent summary article in Harvard Business Review titled Managing Your Innovation Portfolio.

What is the golden ratio leadership? ›

The Golden Ratio I'm talking about is all about leadership. It's a simple rule: leaders should focus on TWO strengths and ONE area of opportunity at any given time.

What is 5 1 leadership ratio? ›

To maximize employee performance, there is an optimal ratio of positive to negative feedback – 5 positives for every 1 negative. Seek opportunities to catch someone in the act of “doing it right” and build it into your every day routine. Small, spontaneous gestures go a long way.

What are the most admired leadership qualities? ›

Successful leaders stand out by displaying qualities such as integrity, clear communication, accountability, vision, and self-awareness. They excel in decision-making, empowering others, fostering creativity, and motivating and inspiring their teams.

What is the 70 30 rule in leadership? ›

The overall goal is to spend 70% of our time in our healthy areas, and 30% of our time in the areas that aren't our strengths. Slowly they will start to become those strengths. A healthy Mindset means knowing what is in your 70% and what is in your 30% and how to balance those well.

What is the 70 20 10 rule for leadership development? ›

Based on the principle that:

70 percent of learning comes from experience, experiment and reflection. 20 percent derives from working with others. 10 percent comes from formal interventions and planned learning solutions.

What is the golden rule of leadership? ›

It, being the Golden Rule of leadership: Leading others is a privilege that is earned, not a right. Leaders who understand that leading others is a privilege understand that leading, first and foremost, is about service.

What is the most perfect golden ratio? ›

The Golden Ratio is 1: 1.618, and the full equation states that when a line is divided into two parts in a ratio of 1: 1.618, it creates the ideal proportion. The Golden Ratio has its roots in nature, from plants to snail shells, and has been used as a guide for architects and artists across the world for centuries.

What is the famous golden ratio? ›

The golden ratio is an irrational number that approximately equals 1.618. For artistically-minded people, the ratio—or better yet, the divine proportion—might be easier to understand visually. This is easiest to demonstrate with the golden spiral, which is often depicted and constructed within a rectangular frame.

What is a good leadership measurement? ›

There are many ways to measure leadership effectiveness. Some common indicators include innovation, efficiency and quality, emotional and physical safety, and employee engagement. However, choosing the most relevant indicators for your organisation's specific goals and objectives is the most important thing.

What is 5.5 leadership style? ›

The status quo (previously, middle-of-the-road) style (5,5): balance and compromise. Managers using this style try to balance between company goals and workers' needs.

What is the number one rule of leadership? ›

Rule 1: Lead by Example

You cannot expect of others what you would not expect of yourself. If you expect others to work long hours, you need to work longer. If you expect others to meet deadlines, you need to meet them yourself, and so on.

What is the most liked leadership style? ›

The democratic leadership style is one of the most effective because it encourages everyone to participate in all processes, share their opinions, and know that you will hear them. It also encourages employees to be engaged because they know you will hear their feedback.

Which leader you admire most? ›

For decades, our most admired leaders were great national or world leaders: the leaders during World War II (Churchill, Roosevelt), or leaders of major social movements (Gandhi, ML King Jr., Mandela).

What is the 10 80 10 rule leadership? ›

At the heart of Maxwell's 10-80-10 Principle is strategic delegation. Its premise is straightforward: devote your energy to the crucial first 10% of a process, allow your team to handle the middle 80%, then return to tackle the vital last 10% with them.

What is the 80 20 rule in leadership? ›

Known as the Pareto Principle, this rule explains that 20 percent of your activities will account for 80 percent of your results. That being the case, leaders should change the way they set goals forever if they want to transform their teams and performance.

What is the ideal ratio of managers to staff? ›

The ideal in an organization, according to modern organizational experts, is approximately 15 to 20 subordinates per supervisor or manager. However, some experts with a more traditional focus believe that five to six subordinates per supervisor or manager is ideal.

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