“To lead them you have to be with them.” In his award-winning best seller, We Were Soldiers Once and Young, Lt. General Hal Moore spoke this basic leadership lesson to his junior officers. While operating rooms, shop floors, assembly lines, distribution warehouses, board rooms, and business suites are not battlefields, the parallels in basic core competencies of engaged leadership are strikingly similar. All new leaders must realize that for people to truly follow your lead, they first must believe that you, as their leader, have their best interests at heart. In a word, they simply must trust you as their leader in moral character, in technical competence, and in personal responsibility to their welfare. There are four skills essential to building followership:
1. Develop Attentiveness – Influential leaders give their key staff people their undivided attention every day. Whether in leader huddles, using the old Hewlett-Packard “leading by wandering around” approach, rounding for outcomes, suffice it to say leadership connection begins by being available and genuinely attentive to the needs of the people doing the work of the organization.
2. Develop Alertness – Influential leaders have a highly developed empathic sense. They are able to detect when an emotional state of another person is in distress and respond to what they see. More attitudes are communicated through the expressions of the face than most people realize. The forehead, the eyes, and the mouth will, many times, show that the inner emotional state of a person is actually not in agreement with what their words are saying.
3. Develop Appreciation – Influential leaders are constantly looking for qualities to praise people for – daily! Leaders are too often critically minded and quick to verbalize faults in other people. There is a leadership myth that suggests it is the responsibility of leaders to catch people doing things wrong. Actually, the opposite is the truth – leaders should spend a great deal of time catching people doing the right things and then acknowledging them for it. Appreciation fosters a positive attitude and work ethic.
4. Develop Thoughtfulness – Any successful leader and good business person knows that effective communication is a critical element of execution and peak performance. Do you make independent decisions or do you include your team members as part of the decision-making process? Are you open to suggestions and express thoughtfulness as a form of inclusive, participative leadership in your daily relationships with your team members? A key to thoughtfulness is to withhold making key decisions that impact the lives of other people until you get their feedback and suggestions on the likely consequences of the decision. In fact, it may take time to coax your team members to provide their input and to believe that you are sincere in seeking their opinions and ideas. Trust is essential to collaborative relationships and it takes time to build. Thoughtfulness is a habit that builds a positive emotional leader connection with people. This connection is essential to execution and peak performance.
Catherine is the President and CEO of CORPORATE HARMONY, providing virtual solutions for leadership development and organizational culture change. Her leadership and coaching experience as a Project Manager in an ever-changing, fast moving technological organization with unrelenting demands drove her to the realization that a positive mindset and strength-building behaviors are essential for today’s complex and chaotic organizational systems. CORPORATE HARMONY’s virtual platform of programs, coaching and performance measurement, is an innovative online technology of tested proprietary content. The world-class content of CORPORATE HARMONY’s Positive Presence Program develops the skill of ‘Positive Presence’ and the necessary ‘Positive Presence Behaviour Competencies’ for maintaining a positive and energized mindset and increased performance in today’s complex work environment, and leading to a culture of collaboration and connection. Catherine’s vision for Corporate Harmony is to bring the skill of “Positive Presence” to the corporate world as it becomes more complex, ambiguous and chaotic. Catherine is uniquely positioned to impact organizations’ productivity and long term success, with her powerful vision of eliminating bad stress from every workplace around the globe, bringing purpose into the people equation to promote healthy, productive and meaningful work cultures and turn the tide on the neglect of mental health on a global scale. Catherine is author of the book: “CORPORATE HARMONY – The Performance Link for Today’s Modern Organization” Catherine can be reached at: Catherine.Osborne@corporateharmony.ca or go to ‘contact us’ on our website www.corporateharmony.ca. Catherine is available for consultation, and can be reached by 519-695-3407.