SA Leadership Podcast Episode #096

You Can't Do It Alone

You Have To Make A Human Connection

Leadership is not about the leader per se. It is about relationship between leaders and those they are attempting to influence. It is about community and doing life together. It is about how you feel and act toward each other. It is about an emotional bond between each other.

The Center for Creative Leadership has found that the critical success factor for the top three jobs in any organization is “Relationships with subordinates.” Said another way, do you like being with each other? It is a know fact that hiring executive positions requires high IQ coupled with high EQ. One without the other is an indicator of failure as a leader not the other way around.

This is serious!!! You can graduate from the top schools, in the top of your class, reason circles around your brightest peers, have relevant situational, functional, and industrial experience and still be more likely to fail than succeed unless you possess the necessary social skills needed.

You Have To Hear What People Are Saying

So often we equate leadership with inspirational speaking. What we seem to miss is that making the human connection requires exceptional listening. The ability to understand the perspective of others is the most glaring difference between successful and unsuccessful leaders.

Sensitivity to others is a truly precious human ability, but not complex. It simply means that you spend time with each other. It means being aware of the attitudes, feelings, and nuances of communication in other people. When leaders are in tune with the emotions of others they create what is called RESONANCE. This means there is an emotional harmony and oneness with each other. Think how an orchestra sounds when the instruments are all out of tune, that is called dissonance. Resonance is what allows for teams to excel at high levels of performance.

Unite People Around A Shared Vision

It is said that one of the most powerful motivators on the planet is a sense of meaning around a shared purpose. Leadership is always a two-way street, never a one way street. When you take the time to listen with sensitivity to the aspirations of others you are able to stand before people and declare; “Here is what I heard you say that you want for yourselves. Here is how your own needs and interests will be served by enlisting in a common purpose.”

If you do not take the time to know people and speak their language, your future goals as a leader are going to be short-lived. The old mantra is still true; “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care!”

Make Others Feel Strong and Capable

Powerful things are not accomplished by powerful leaders, they are accomplished by powerful teams who are made to feel powerful by the leader. When asked to describe a leaders that you most admire and look up to, people say it is the leader that makes them feel empowered, listened to, understood, and important like they mattered.

Getting people to feel capable and confident, and to act like leaders themselves, requires making an investment into their personal development. Often people lack a little courage and confidence. However, they blossom when they have a leader who believes in them and gives them support and encouragement. As a leader, learn to ask GREAT QUESTIONS! This will send followers on a pioneering journey in their minds. They are more likely to discover new and exciting methods and inventions!

LINKS

Shepherds Advantage Leadership Podcast is now on iTunes – SUBSCRIBE

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FREE GIFT – “The Art of Balancing Candor With Care” – Click on the icon at the bottom of the page

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Music: “Gratitude Mood” by David Arivett. You can learn more about his music by clicking on his name. THANKS DAVID!

A Journey Toward Significance – Take The SEVEN DAY CHALLENGE

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