Boss caters to your need before he gets his work done

Washington: If your boss sees and caters to your needs before his, everything in the workplace improves, claims a new study.

New University of Illinois at Chicago research examined the "serving culture," and found that putting employees first lead to measureable improvements in customer satisfaction, higher job performance by employees, and lower turnover are the result.

Employees feel the most valued, and in return give back to the company and its customers when their bosses create a culture of trust, caring, cooperation, fairness and empathy.

One of the authors, Sandy Wayne, said that a servant leader's approach like "Is there anything I can do to help you?" or "What do you need to...?" helps employees reach their full potential.

Wayne added when the employees see their leaders as role models, they often mimic those qualities, creating a culture of servant leadership. This serving culture drives the effectiveness of the business as a whole.

Professor Wayne says stores with servant leaders experienced the following positive outcomes: 6 percent higher job performance, 8 percent more customer service behaviors, 50 percent less likely to leave the company.

The study suggests this is an increasingly relevant form of leadership that offers promise to the premise that if businesses lead by caring for their people, the profits will take care of themselves.

The study is published in the Academy of Management Journal.