Improve Your Relationships: Improve Your Leadership

     Here are some facts: Leadership is about people. Without people you don’t have anyone to lead. Without anyone to lead you are not a leader. If we can acknowledge that these are true statements, then we can acknowledge how critical relationships are. Since leadership is all about people, then to be a successful leader you have to be able to build relationships.
     Building relationships with your staff comes down to two main attributes. The first is Be Personable and the second is Be Credible. Here are practical suggestions of how you can become personable. It starts with being friendly and proactive. You have to commit to going out of your way to make contact with your team. Visit them, stop by to say thank you, shake their hand, and ask them how they’re doing. It doesn’t matter what it is, but it does matter that you proactively make contact with them for non-work related items.
     To truly connect with your team you also need to get to know them. Make it a habit to learn as much about them as you can. Ask questions about their family. Ask questions about where they grew up. Ask questions about what they like to do in their free time. Ask questions about how they relax. Do you get the theme? By asking questions you let your team know you care about them as individuals. It also helps you learn what makes them tick which typically helps explain certain habits at work.
     As you begin to learn about your team and their families, make sure you follow up with them about anything unusual you may have learned. This shows your team that you care. Not only did you ask them about themselves and their families, you also engaged and truly listened to what they had to say.
     As a leader you have to be able to introduce some form of humor into the workplace. Work can become monotonous so you have to try and break the routine. You have to be conscious of creating interruptions but a moment to laugh is usually much appreciated. It teaches your team that fun is part of their work environment. This has to also include the ability to laugh at yourself. Your team needs to know you are human, you make mistakes, and you can laugh about it with them.
     The last aspect of being personable has to include you opening up and sharing personal things. Reference all of your close relationships. What do you do when you are together? You discuss personal things happening in your lives. Same concept applies to building relationships with your team, your boss, or for that matter, anyone.
     The second attribute is being credible. I won’t elaborate on this extensively since I recently wrote about it in the series titled 4 Keys to Leadership. The 4th key was Do What You Say You Will Do. Simply put, being credible is getting things done. As a leader, if you are only made up of the promises of the great things you will do, you will lose credibility with your team very quickly. Teams look to their leader to lead the way. Leading the way means getting things done—otherwise you’re just in the way.
     The bottom line is that without your team there is very little if anything that you can do. And the only way your team will be productive and driven to help you succeed as their leader—is if they believe in you as a person. And the only way for that to happen is for you to build solid relationships with those that you need the most—your team!