Assess the current quality of your leader-member relationship

Honestly diagnose where you stand in the relationship before trying to improve it.

Why it works

People operate with an implicit sense of their relationship with their leader, but without explicit assessment they misread signals, over- or under-estimate their position, and react to symptoms without addressing causes. A clear-eyed diagnosis surfaces the actual drivers of relationship quality — which side of the equation to work on — and prevents the wasted effort of improving the wrong variable.

How to do it

1. Ask yourself honestly: Does your leader give you interesting assignments, seek your input on decisions, and advocate for you to others?
2. Check whether interactions are primarily task-transactional or relationally enriched (ideas, interests, development).
3. If uncertain, ask directly: "How am I doing in terms of what you need from me?"
4. Distinguish relationship quality from social liking — you can be liked socially and still have a low-LMX work relationship.

Evidence

The LMX-7 scale (Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995) is one of the most widely used measures in organizational psychology. Meta-analyses find self-reported LMX quality predicts performance ratings, satisfaction, and turnover intention. Martin et al. (2016), meta-analyzing 146 samples, confirm LMX quality predicts both task performance and citizenship behavior, reinforcing why an honest read of your position is worth the effort. (observational)

Most LMX research uses self-report and cross-sectional data. Causality is hard to establish: high LMX may predict high performance, or high performance may generate high LMX — the direction likely runs both ways.

Sources

• Graen & Uhl-Bien (1995), relationship-based approach to leadership, The Leadership Quarterly
• Gerstner & Day (1997), meta-analytic review of leader-member exchange theory, Journal of Applied Psychology
• Graen, G. B., & Uhl-Bien, M. (1995). Relationship-based approach to leadership: Development of leader-member exchange (LMX) theory of leadership over 25 years: Applying a multi-level multi-domain perspective. The Leadership Quarterly, 6(2), 219-247.
• Gerstner, C. R., & Day, D. V. (1997). Meta-analytic review of leader-member exchange theory: Correlates and construct issues. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82(6), 827-844.
• Martin, R., Guillaume, Y., Thomas, G., Lee, A., & Epitropaki, O. (2016). Leader-member exchange (LMX) and performance: A meta-analytic review. Personnel Psychology, 69(1), 67-121.

Common mistake

Diagnosing your LMX entirely from social warmth — confusing a friendly leader who treats everyone the same with a leader who has genuinely invested in a high-quality work relationship with you specifically.