Where Do You Add Value As A Leader? by Caryn Douglas

There is a frequently cited Gallup statistic from 2015 that managers and leaders account for 70% of variance in employee engagement. While this statistic is from a report on American managers, it is a finding echoed consistently in UK and European research.  So, where do you really add value as a leader?

Where Leaders Get It Wrong 

There are many different ways to dig into what’s behind that statistic but a recent e-Letter from Roy Lilley, a leading UK policy analyst in the health sector, recently suggested seven areas of concern (R. Lilley, NHSManagers.net e-Letter, 12 March 2026) which resonate even eleven years after the Gallup report. 

He says: 

This is the real risk…  

… when leaders align with power rather than the evidence…  

… when leaders are no longer the buffer between power, people and performance…  

… when leaders learn to protect themselves rather than confront uncomfortable truths… 

… when leader’s survival becomes more important than the purpose of the organisation… 

… when, leaders, over time, become skilled at not discussing the real problem… 

… when leaders are managing up and not managing the problem… 

… when leaders are complicit in poor decisions and upheaval becomes routine, instability becomes acceptable and decisions that once would have been challenged simply pass through… 

… when all that happens… 

… we have no need for leaders. 

This is a disturbing, but all too recognisable, “To Don’t” list for leaders with each failure enabling the next. I’m sure we can all think of specific leaders who have displayed one or more of these characteristics at one time or another.  

In his e-Letter, Roy Lilley goes on to contextualise the leadership failures for the healthcare settings on which he commentates. However, there is plenty to take from this for leaders in all sectors, by turning it into a positive “To Do” list.  

Turning That Into A To Do List For Leaders 

So here’s my seven point checklist for any leader who wants to add add value rather than render themselves superfluous by destroying it! 

1. Evidence can be scary when it challenges our current thinking, because the status quo has power. Use quality data, expertise and balanced, honest assessment from multiple sources, as a leader so that you can use even the most uncomfortable evidence in your decision making. 
2. Be the buffer that allows your team to perform, absorbing organisational pressures and power plays. Sometimes this means actively positioning yourself to absorb demands from above. 
3. If it feels uncomfortable, there’s something important going on, and uncovering that is your focus as a leader, rather than protecting yourself from that uncomfortable feeling. 
4. If there is a conflict between something that is good for you personally, and your organisation’s goals and purpose, you know what to do. As a leader in an organisation, sometimes you need to put your personal goals on one side. 
5. Create the psychologically safe environment around you that allows your team to engage with difficult conversations before they become crises. 
6. Spend your time solving problems and enabling your team to do the same rather than curating your appearance within the organisation.  

And finally… 

7. Speak truth to power. Maintain a habit of rigorous scrutiny that calls out poor decision making, especially where it leads to upheaval, rather than opting for a quiet life of compliance. 

Each of these leadership habits builds on the previous one creating an integrated set of principles that add value. Being principled often requires bravery, especially when that means challenging the status quo.  

Leadership Behaviours To Support This 

And what are the behaviours that will enable these habits? They are the ones that are at the heart of the best leadership development: emotional intelligence, ethical leadership, engagement and enablement, influencing with positive intent, and psychological safety.  

With emotional intelligence, leaders recognise discomfort as a signal rather than a threat, prompting them to put their own emotional response to one side initially.  

Ethical leadership requires a moral compass that requires leaders to use evidence openly and honestly, and challenge power-motivated decisions. 

When a leader is acting as a buffer and creating a psychologically safe workplace, they are driving engagement and enablement with their team. 

Leaders who manage the problem rather than their own reputation need to be able to exert 360 influence with positive intent without becoming political or self-serving. It is the intent that separates constructive challenge from careerism. 

Finally, psychological safety is a foundational thread running through the whole To Do list. Leaders who model their own willingness to embrace discomfort and learn from it, stand a much greater chance of creating climates that support these behaviours more widely. And when this climate is in place, it supports all the other behaviours in turn and a leader can truly add value to the experience of their employees and their organisation. 

Leadership needs people with minds that are open and curious, that are willing to grow and learn, so that they can continue to add value in a world that is changing more rapidly than ever, and presents us with new and unexpected challenges every day. That’s the route to tipping the scales towards the positive end of that 70% variance in engagement. 

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References 

Gallup. (2015). State of the American manager: Analytics and advice for leaders. Industrial Report Magazine, 2(1), 1-21.