Relationships: The Secret Sauce of Leading Well
Valuing others as you balance performance and people
Do you ever experience a tension between moving the work forward and nurturing your team? Effective leaders balance their commitment to getting the job done by strengthening the relationships with the team.
The Stratton Associates, consultants for executive job placement in Sherman Oaks, California, conducted research to create a list of thirty-four traits in their personal evaluation outline of potential top-level business executives. Fourteen describe relational skills, compared to only a few traits that concern intellectual strengths and abilities.
According to this list, effective leaders possess maturity, warmth, openness, vulnerability, and objectivity. At the same time, they also express strong human feelings, are candid, and honest. They clearly communicate their own limitations and admit their need of others. They have a deep respect for the aspirations of others.
Robert Rosen introduces his book “Leading People” with an overview of the critical components of leadership:
“But above all, leaders must cultivate healthy adult-to-adult relationships. Why is this so critical? Because in our fast-paced, complex, highly technical world, people need to work together and share a common vision to produce high-quality work. Their relationships, therefore, are crucial. Indeed, these relationships are the glue that holds the enterprise together, connecting its strategy, structure, systems, and technology.”
Good leaders are out-and-about, having conversations, seeking to nurture the organization’s most valuable asset, people. Their encouraging and persistent influence keeps team members moving toward the goal, while keeping them abreast of the individual concerns of those team members.
Top-shelf communication skills
Strengthening work relationships also involves facilitating a free-flow communication system where ideas and information can pass in every direction. A perceptive leader will develop and manage this. To accomplish change and innovation, it is essential to keep the communication channels open, and that is embodied at the top. In whatever role you hold for the team, you can exemplify welcoming and collaborative communication. This diffuses into the organization like the scent of lavender in a room.
The importance of the leader’s personal security and sense of maturity cannot be overestimated. Insecure people are threatened by the openness and honesty required to function in community. Effective team leadership demands this level of communication.
Three specific communication skills serve good leaders:
Build and articulate a shared vision on behalf of the organization
Enlist others in effective decision-making and strategic planning, and
Conflict resolution.
When leaders effectively communicate their vision for the group, constituents report significantly higher levels of job satisfaction, motivation, commitment, loyalty, and organizational productivity.
What is one concrete step you can take this week to strengthen a relationship on your team while still advancing key performance goals?
How will you intentionally create space for open, two-way communication in your next team meeting?