LMX and Thick Culture

creating the conditions for flourishing

Relationships matter - in our private lives and at work. I think a lot of people underestimate the importance of investing in work relationships. In some ways, the modern labor law actually creates barriers to developing stronger work relationships. I will be speaking on a panel later this week about some of my research on mentorship and culture - in particular making some comparisons between the experience of mentorship in the military vs. in the civilian sector. I have my own personal story, but I have also done a deep-dive talking to many military healthcare administrators who transitioned from leadership roles in the military to leadership roles in the private sector. One of the areas that stands out to those of us who have spent a first career in the military and then transitioned to civilian life is the difference in work relationships. In one of my papers, I used the anthropological concept of a thick culture to describe the military. A thick culture is characterized by a widely shared system of belief, with rituals and traditions that are richly embedded in everyday life, providing a sense of meaning and value. Basic training (or officer training through either an academy or ROTC) designed to induct a civilian into the thick culture of the military. 

One of the things that makes the military a thick culture is the expectation of mentorship. All leaders are expected to be mentors. To be a mentor, you have to get to know your people. You have to know what their strengths and weaknesses are, you have to know what their hopes and dreams are, and you have to know about their personal lives. This last part is what I am referring to when I say that labor laws (and less rigid policies and best practices to keep you from getting sued) diminish stronger work relationships. It was a common measure of effective leadership that a leader knew the names of all of her/his subordinates’ spouses and kids. The leader had a sense of whether they were doing well in their home lives or struggling. In the civilian world, asking questions like that would be regarded as intrusive and perhaps even illegal. But it was that degree of caring that was expected in the military that creates the thick culture, alongside the rituals and training and common values. Military service members I interviewed often expressed that they felt alone in their new roles, that it felt like no one really cared if they succeeded or failed. Now, after a couple of years, they mostly got used to the change. But many of them expressed a sense of loss for what they had left behind. They had more freedom now, but less belonging.

I just did an interview for the FITW podcast on Friday with Dr. Jim Jawahar, the author of the book, Thrive!: The Psychology Behind Achieving Professional Success. One of the topics we talk about is LMX - an acronym that stands for leader-member exchange. There is an extensive literature on LMX, so some people may disagree with my understanding of the concept, but it basically boils down to relationships between leaders and team members matter, and better relationships yield better outcomes. If your boss likes you, s/he is more likely to direct resources to you, give you more opportunities to excel, and more likely to generally look out for you. If your boss doesn’t like you, then the opposite holds. The flow goes the other way, as well. If you like your boss, you are more likely to try to look out for her/him, you are more likely to exercise discretionary effort to help her/him accomplish her/his goals, and less likely to be all-around pain in the ass. Good LMX results in trust. I talked about trust and relationships in my podcast with my colleague Dr. Rachel Campagna (recommended - listen here). One of the main things trust yields is lower monitoring costs. If I am your supervisor and I trust you, I will give you a task and walk away and focus on other things. I won’t have to spend time checking up on you to make sure you are doing what I told you to do - which is what I mean by monitoring costs. This creates more time in my day so that I can do more things - I can be more productive. You, as a member of my team, can also relax a bit. You don’t have to worry about whether I am going to recognize your work, try to get you promoted, or find you more meaningful work. You don’t have to spend time monitoring my behavior - you don’t have to worry about whether I am distributing work and opportunity equitably. 

The Army leadership did (and does) a lot to try to create positive LMX throughout the organization. We didn’t call it that. We just called it being good leaders and creating a good command climate. But that’s really what we were doing, and training young leaders to do - we were creating strong relationships because relationships matter. Better relationships create trust, trust reduces monitoring costs, and creates a more efficient organization. The thick culture was nosy and intrusive. There were a lot of expectations of participation in “mandatory fun” like office parties, work dinners, balls, etc. And no, you didn’t get over time because you were expected to spend your Saturday evening with your coworkers. I see the value of these rituals now more clearly in their absence. 

The civilian world is not the military. There are good reasons why few civilian organizations have the kind of thick culture the military creates - chief among them, you are never going to war with the person in the next cubicle at your marketing firm. Nevertheless, LMX is a good concept. Relationships matter. If you’re a leader, get to know your people (within the bounds of what is legal, culturally acceptable, and proper). Find things in common to talk about. Avoid divisive topics (politics, religion) unless they are necessary for work. Seek to know and care about your people as people. Try to will them good. Once you know them, you can mentor them and help them grow. Thicken the culture, even if it is only in your little office, on your little team. It will make you a more efficient leader, but more importantly you will create the conditions for more human flourishing (yours and your team’s).