To be human means you need relationships which in turn necessitate social ability. Winning social behaviours are well documented, and according to Stanford Social Innovation Review, social competencies can be learned and developed with practice, the same way a 20 year old develops fluent language skills through training and practice. In a recent post ‘15 Social Skills That Will Make You Successful in Every Aspect of Life’ highlights the following social skills:
People want to make a difference, but they can and will only do so when they have an emotional connection with their leader. If you want to connect you have to deviate from the outdated and ineffective practices of a “top-down” driven approach to leadership. As a leader you should be asking yourself daily, is my behaviour drawing people towards me or pushing them away from me? Learning the skill of Positive Presence brings with it an understanding of what endears your followers to you and is essential to understanding the great impact that connection has in driving performance and productivity in the workplace.
There are four central reasons people will follow their leader. In the book Strength-Based Leadership, best-selling author Tom Rath and renowned leadership consultant Barry Conchie explore the results of decade’s worth of Gallup research on the topic of leadership relations. Responses from more than 10,000 interviews conducted around the world reveal the four reasons that people choose to follow their leaders:
1. Trust
2. Compassion
3. Stability
4. Hope
Ineffective leaders breed ineffective followers and performance and productivity suffer as a result. Effective leaders build on the social skills of leadership to create connections. With a positive, energized, and emotional connection with your people you send a clear message that you are interested and invested in what your people experience on a daily basis.
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.