Productivity vs Likability Quotient.

Weisinger (2015) observed that likability is a key driver to success in life. Simply explained, how well an individual is liked has a positive correlation with success at the workplace, relationships, and friendships. Some employees possess qualities that transcend popularity. They are agreeable and friendly, nice to be with, they show respect for colleagues, follow through on commitments, and are generally well-liked. Studies have shown that likability is the necessary ingredient in building and maintaining relationships. Individuals who displays cooperative and friendly attitudes, are generally more socially acceptable in the society, and the workplace. They tend to endear their personality towards others, make friends easily, and are often extroverted. In human nature, individuals seek attention, love, relationships, romance, and friendships. Humans consistently seek attention, approval, acceptance, and esteem needs, to survive. They constantly strive for the need to bond with other individuals for social interactions and natural survival. HBR (2023) ascertained that humans have a conditioned need to be liked, due to their social nature, and desire to belong, within the group. ?

The Likability Quotient (LQ) generally referenced a person’s ability to bond with others, build relationships, and liked by colleagues, associates, team members, and everyone around them. It includes qualities such as strong social skills, empathy, and genuineness. LQ can be measured by how well people treat and interact with others, how well they connect, are recognized, and engaged with people around them. Some of the indices for measuring high likability quotient include, friendliness, positive attitude, familiarity, openness, and authenticity. A high LQ include trust, confidentiality, respect, and reliability. These are the essential characteristics needed to build and raise our likability quotient. Individuals with higher LQ tends to attract strong and meaningful emotional connections with others, tend to be more effective and good listeners, collaborate more, higher influence levels, improved mental and emotional health, and ultimately, greater career success. Having a high LQ often lead to a more resourceful and meaningful personal and professional life. Studies have shown that employees with high LQ receives more recognition in the workplace, likely to be sought out for team projects, they build rapport with management and leadership, create positive work culture, and are able to navigate the arduous office politics and build alliances. Likability is the necessary and sufficient factor needed for climbing up the corporate ladder.

Employee productivity index can be calculated by the ratio of output by the hours worked. Increased output simply means increased revenue and or profits. A high productivity is necessary for corporate growth, it helps companies stay competitive at all times and operate more efficiently, it helps reduce operating costs, drives morale in the workplace, better customer engagement, and allows companies to adapt to changing market conditions. To drive corporate growth, organizations set clear goals and prioritize ?objectives, clear deadlines and accountability, teams and task forces, efficient resource allocation, and standardized performance appraisal system. Individuals strive to raise their productivity levels to increase their contributions and value in the workplace. In ensuring the success and growth of the organization, employees tend to focus more on their productivity contributions, committing to responsibilities, focus on organizational goals, and corporate core values. Higher productivity levels guarantees sustainable growth in the long run

Productivity quotient (PQ) summarizes the output value by the input value. It measures how efficiently time and other resources are utilized to achieve desired outcomes. It is simply the amount of tasks an employee completes, given the time frame, and the total output. In performance assessment, productivity quotient has become the necessary parameter for gauging employee contributions to organizational growth. It also helps organizations to optimize output by identifying areas of employee improvement and resource allocation. Ultimately, raising productivity levels and making profits is often the key goal for businesses and organization.

Likability, however, has become the new norm for performance assessment, employee appraisals, work satisfaction classification, and employee growth. Leaders often prioritize likability over productivity in assessing the contributions of employees in the workplace. Individuals who are more likable are preferred over others with higher productivity quotient. Studies have shown that leaders create bias and toxic work environment, where employees with high productivity levels feel undervalued and unrecognized, while less productive ones, with high social skills, are rewarded. A corporate culture that values and rewards both likablity and productivity often tend towards a more balanced and high perfoming teams. It is essential for leaders to address the imbalances and create a work environment that is fair and objective in performance evaluation. While productivity is crucial for corporate growth, likability is essential for building teams, relationships, strong people dynamics, and fostering a positive work culture. The needed balance between the two ensures a strong collaborative teams with high productivity, harmonious and high performing employees, and strong corporate values. Some of the negative consequences of ineffective leadership has been attributed to leaders who show preference for likability over productivity, disregard for competence, and bias for “office politics’ over resourcefulness.

Organizations with clear goals and objectives, performance criteria, measurable and results-driven evaluation, and equal-opportunities assessment standards, succeeds in the market place. Leaders should strive to avoid likability bias by encouraging diversity, avoid favoritism, emphasis on competence, skills, and achievements rather than preferences for social skills. Data-driven decision making practices should be encouraged, and employees should be appraised based on measurable results. Leaders, in avoiding these bias, should create a culture of rewarding merits, where the most competent and qualified employees are promoted, supporting and encouraging diverse perspectives and criticisms, regularly seeking feedback and open communication, and examining their own short-comings and bias. While successful organizations prioritize both productivity and social skills, employees show preference for the value of their contributions to the total output, feel respected, and are likely to be loyal and stay with the organization for the long term However, removal of these biases will be a daunting task as many corporate leaders rose to their positions, in part, due to their high likability quotient with strong social skills, communicates effectively, and are able to build relationships. Ultimately, leaders should strive to achieve a balance between productivity, performance, team building and relationship skills. All these ensures a high level of employee engagement and satisfaction, which impacts an organization’s bottom line.

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