People Who are Prone to Guilt Make Better Leaders

Choosing the right person to be a leader might be a difficult task to do for some people. Humans are complex beings made up of different layers of personality traits, so deciding which ones fit your ideals, preferences, and company’s visions might be a little bit confusing. Not to mention the fact that a leader is one of the most important figures in a company and they influence the decisions an organization makes and help create the relationships between other workers, among other things. One specific trait that would be highlighted in this writing is guilt-proneness and how unlike what the majority thinks, people with this trait make better leaders than those who don’t.

Guilt-prone people have a higher sense of responsibility over others, specifically when it comes to the welfare and socioemotional aspect. When interacting in society, guilt-prone people want to make sure that they make it a pleasant experience for others, otherwise, they would be ridden with guilt of causing people discomfort. Being emotionally sensitive by nature, guilt-prone people develop this feeling of obligation over taking care of someone else’s emotions. They don’t want to be the cause of other people’s misfortune and they feel negative feelings when they fail to do so, which is why they always put the greater good ahead of their own needs. But this is a good trait to have since emotions are very closely linked to work performance and how well someone can accomplish their job. Positive emotions often result in satisfying work performance and on the other hand, negative emotions often result in unsatisfying work performance. The concern is one of the most prominent feelings that guilt-prone individuals feel too when they do personal wrongdoings. It arises from their conformity to the moral norms that dictate people should feel concerned towards other people, especially those who are close to you. What makes guilt-prone people suitable for the position of a leader, in this case, is that they are able to turn this concern into either intergroup cooperation or competition, meaning that they encourage their team members to work and fix the situation together or make it into a friendly rivalry that can further improve the dynamics between co-workers to a direction of the better. While for low-guilt people, they may ignore their concerns thinking that it’s probably nothing serious or worse, not feel it at all. This level of nonchalance can create an impression in the coworkers’ minds that their leader does not care and when it reaches a point where coworkers think this way, it could seriously disrupt the company’s cohesiveness.

If a company is looking for a hard worker who always strives to do their best in a job and puts their everything for the better future of an organization for the position of a leader, then they should be hiring a guilt-prone individual. There might rise some misconception that a guilt-prone individual would be too busy wallowing in self-pity or worry to do some actual work but the fact is that they have more awareness and sense of belonging over their own responsibilities. When guilt-prone leader has already assessed their task, they will do whatever they can to accomplish it perfectly because they know the following things: other people in the company are putting their trust on them and they are considered capable of the job. They would do anything to make sure not to break that trust and show that they are indeed the right person for the job, otherwise they would feel bad for already hurting others in some type of way. Anxiety can sometimes be the motivation or drive needed by someone to actually reach their goal and this applies specifically for guilt-prone people. When a guilt-prone individual has someone put their expectation on them, they will see it as a burden. Not necessarily in a bad way, because it will just be another thing that drives them to work harder in order to meet the expectation that has been put on their shoulder. They are highly anxious of not giving enough, eventually failing in meeting other people’s expectations, and their worst nightmare of letting other people down finally comes true.

In a busy and hectic environment of a business organization where there are so many uncertainties and unexpected problems that can come at any time, it is easy for just about anyone to lose their temper and this includes guilt-prone people. What differentiates them, however, is how they manage their anger, which focuses on constructing themselves and their environment for the better. For example, instead of just lashing out, being aggressive, blaming other people, and just creating an overall uncomfortable and stressful working environment for everyone, guilt-prone leaders call for a non-hostile group discussion, in which everyone can gather around and pitch in their own opinions on what went wrong, then they can together as a team discuss how to fix it and evaluate. This type of anger management method is positive for both an individual and a group as a form of character development. One of the things that make guilt-prone individuals special is how they see and interpret anger-eliciting situations differently compared to low-guilt individuals. They never involve severe threats or invoke a defensive, retaliative sort of anger. This could happen because guilt-prone people are generally more level-headed; they think ahead and they know that they will later regret their actions if they decide to lash out and put their good relationships with others at stake. They would hate to look back and realize that they had been terrible to others in the process of dealing with their own problems. Instead, they try to look at the brighter side and see anger-eliciting situations as an opportunity to correct themselves and make themselves more useful to the company. It would be impossible to look for a leader who will never be affected with anger. What’s important is to find a leader who knows how to turn anger-eliciting situations into one that benefits the organization.

In conclusion, guilt-prone people make better leaders than those who aren’t, because they have a higher sense of responsibility and concern over the well-being of others. They also work harder, since they want to make sure to live up to their workers’ standards and not to disappoint them. Lastly, they are more level-headed than low-guilt people, because they see anger-eliciting situations as an opportunity to better themselves and their team.