Get Results and Build Rapport: Be Effective AND Liked at Work

Have you ever worked with someone who is insanely productive but leaves a trail of human devastation behind them? They get the job done, but nobody likes working with them.

Or maybe you’ve worked with someone who is endlessly kind and helpful—like a teddy bear at work. They’ll drop everything to support you, talk things through, and help the team. Yet people often wonder, “How are they still employed? What do they actually do?”

Being a truly effective manager and leader is about walking the fine line between results and relationships. It’s about knowing when to flex—being effective when it matters most, and liked when relationships need nurturing.

Here’s a video to kick things off—or read on for the full story:

Why Being Effective Matters

Being effective means delivering real business value, improving results, and boosting your employability. Yet many managers focus on tasks rather than outcomes. When I run agile leadership workshops, I often ask attendees: “Do you have absolute clarity on the business results expected of you?” Very few hands go up.

Some produce excellent work—PowerPoints, strategy documents, code—but rarely understand how it ties to business goals. This is an opportunity for a manager to lead with clarity and show the business how a professional manager works.

Key strategies to be effective:

1. Understand what the business expects
   Don’t wait for answers—seek them. Ask your manager, or even their manager, for clarity. Deconstruct business objectives and formulate measurable results. Gain approval and consensus.
2. Challenge objectives when necessary
   I’ve seen executives hand down targets and goals that conflict or have little evidence behind them. Analyse, ask questions, and propose evidence-based alternatives—calmly and professionally.
3. Communicate clearly with your team
   Once expectations are clear, align your team. People perform best when they understand what success looks like and their role in achieving it.
4. Be effective first, then efficient
   There’s no point in streamlining processes that don’t deliver impact. Prioritise effectiveness, then optimise efficiency.
5. Staple yourself to work
   Map workflows, track handovers, identify bottlenecks. Study where work comes from, and where it goes. Engage the team in improving processes and keep the customer experience central. This exercise alone can reveal hidden insights. See this article on Stapling Yourself to Work.
6. Address low performance promptly
   Low performers drain energy and slow teams down. Coaching, feedback, and clear direction are critical. Sometimes tough decisions are necessary—but the payoff is a stronger, more engaged team.
7. Hire for high performance
   One of the best ways to be effective is getting recruitment right. A strong team saves time and energy compared to fixing poor hires later. Read the Join Our Company book.

How to Be Liked as a Manager

Being liked isn’t about avoiding tough decisions—it’s about building trust, rapport, and strong relationships.

1. Develop excellent communication skills
   Listening is as important as speaking. Building rapport, being trustworthy, and adjusting your communication style to your audience are vital. I often use DISC frameworks to understand how different people prefer to be communicated with.
2. Work on yourself
   Your management style mirrors who you are. Understand your strengths, weaknesses, and preferences. Personal growth directly impacts effectiveness and likability.
3. Know your people
   Understand strengths, weaknesses, and aspirations. Organise work around what matters. For example, I once guided a team member through learning a new skill while juggling core responsibilities—acknowledging effort and maintaining performance.
4. See people as assets, not costs
   People aren’t just cogs in a machine—they’re the engine of your success. Treat them with care, clarity, and respect, and they’ll reciprocate with engagement and effort.
5. Care about people genuinely
   Most workplace problems come from managers who simply don’t care. When you approach work with genuine care, people will care back—for the business, the customer, and the team. And caring about something is the first step to wanting to improve it. Employee engagement is free when you get good managers caring about people.

Walking the Fine Line

The hallmark of an exceptional manager (and employee!) is the ability to balance effectiveness and likability. There will be times when business outcomes require tough decisions, and moments when relationships take priority.

For example:

• Effective but disliked: dealing with a low performer or reducing headcount during redundancies.
• Liked but less focused on output: coaching team members during personal crises or skill development.

By understanding your value, caring about your people, and applying strong communication, you can build high-performing teams that are productive, respected, and enjoyable to work with.