Being positive pays off

Managers who are liked by their staff are much more likely to create productive working environments.

"If you're likeable then you're more likely to have people want to do things for you," says business psychologist Jasbindar Singh, author of Get Your Groove Back.

Your own likeability as a manager will not only affect the company's bottom line but also your own career progression.

"Likeability has an impact. I think you're more likely to be promoted. You're more likely to have access to resources. If you're a likeable person you also have a good reputation that precedes you."

William Cottringer, PhD, is a business success coach based in Issaquah in Washington, United States. In his research he has identified what a likeable person is.

"They are perceived as being real, honest, positive, physically appealing, humorous, empathetic, polite, spontaneous, agreeable and good listeners. On the other hand unlikeable people demonstrate just the opposite behaviours. They are perceived by others as being phoney, dishonest, negative, physically unappealing, over-serious, insensitive, rude, contrived, disagreeable, and poor listeners," he writes.

Singh says that you don't have to be unlikeable to be a strong and effective manager.

"Being nice and likeable shouldn't equate to the fact that you can't make the hard calls. Likeable rogues can be fun but in the business environment likeability needs to be backed up with other things such as credibility so that you can actually make the hard calls, deal with conflict and hold people accountable."

Singh says that research shows successful people get along with all types of people. They also have a foundation of credibility, authenticity and respect.

"To me, likeability is also about good emotional intelligence quotient (EQ) and spiritual intelligence quotient (SQ) skills and competencies - having good interpersonal skills and having good self awareness."

But Singh warns people not to be fooled by people just because they appear charismatic, particularly during the interview process.

"People have been gullible and taken in by the niceness or the likeability factor and not done a thorough investigation with reference checks."

Managers who often forget to acknowledge people and are often more preoccupied with telling people what to do rather than inspiring them to achieve may be missing the boat.

"I think an average Kiwi manager would probably go for respect over likeability.

"It's important that your team members and colleagues feel heard and respected. It's about being able to make a connection."

She says a healthy climate exists when the employees can say: "He's great. He's nice but he can also be tough when he needs to."

Dr Iain McCormick, managing director of the Executive Coaching Centre says there are scientific tests to determine if someone is likeable.

"There are lots of well-regarded personality tests that measure this kind of thing. There are five major dimensions of personality: emotional stability, extroversion/introversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness."

With more than one hundred cross referenced questions, McCormick says these tests are hard to manipulate. He also agrees that likeability has an effect on the bottom line.

"We all like likeable people and so we're more likely to buy from them. We probably feel we can trust them more. We feel that they care about us and that's more likely to make us buy."

He says that the characteristics of unlikeable people such as dishonesty, pessimism and intolerance can be bad for business.

"I think you could be confident that those factors would increase staff turnover and be a good predictor of lack of productivity."

Likeability is something which cannot be faked and is essential to motivating people.

"Things like understanding people's names, understanding something about their family and asking them about their family and those kinds of things are extremely important."

Likeable people are better able to generate more support for their cause which in turn means that they will be more successful.

"Studies suggest that likeable people are more likely to be promoted so I think we could guarantee that they're more likely to be hired as well."

Then why is it that we can find some of the most unlikeable people in positions of authority? For some reason it always seems as though they are somehow able to shoot up the ranks and make life miserable for everyone else.

"I think one of the problems is that unlikeable people often have an intuitive understanding of power. They're often good at accumulating power and using it to their own advantage. And for that reason I think that there are certainly lots of nasty people at the top."

Likeability can also be learned. McCormick coaches people on how to increase their popularity in the office.

"People can learn to be likeable. If you are absolutely ghastly you'll never be likeable but you can improve your likeability, I would say by about a third. What we know is that what's called 'social skills training' works well for those people in the workplace and in the community. We know that you can learn to be empathetic. You can learn to be a better listener. You can learn to improve your grooming and hygiene. You can learn to be more optimistic."

Learning to see a half-empty glass as half-full might just require a little attitude adjustment.

"There are good ways for people to analyse their own pessimism and start to challenge their thinking about the world and other people. Through doing that, they can become significantly more optimistic."

It is inevitable that most people will see themselves as likeable people. But our coworkers might not be so sure. That's where McCormick says 360 degree feedback is important.

This formal review process allows everyone in the office to review everyone and provide feedback from their perspective. But other types of feedback may also be useful.

"In an informal situation, feedback is often unsolicited, typically by people telling you you're a jerk or whatever."

McCormick says that generating this awareness is important to let people know if they are unlikeable.

To teach people how to be more likeable, coaches often use a video camera to show people how they are interacting when they are speaking with someone.

"You can demonstrate to people and teach people micro skills which are part of social skills. They are tiny little things that make a huge difference."

The camera reveals if the person is acting interested in the conversation, are they interrupting and what is their body language saying?

But learning to be more likeable is not an overnight treatment.

"You need a good system in the workplace if someone wants to improve. You can have a buddy who is someone who comes to them once a month and says: 'You know you did well in that meeting. But actually with that other client you interrupted them all the time'."

McCormick admits he can't always turn coal into diamonds but can generally improve someone's likeability.

"If you're a total jerk, you can be ordinary," says. "If you are ordinary, you can be quite good. If you're quite good then you can be excellent."