Connect, Then Lead: The Ultimate Leadership Lesson

One of the most pressing human capital issues facing organisations today is fostering effective leadership which drives organisational performance. As a leader in today’s work environment, stirring teams to deliver results largely rests on your influence. Barking orders out of a position of authority to get stuff done is now an antique.

New demands from the emerging millennial (and even possible younger) workforce are causing leadership to rethink its approach. Deloitte Insights show that in any organisation, leaders have a vital role to play in fostering a strong and enduring culture. At such a time, leadership has never been more important nor challenging in business.

But, what is leadership influence in real terms? Here is what you can do to build the influence you need to drive performance.

Listen, Actively

Active listening is an underrated, and under-developed, skill in business. Naturally, we are selfish beings with low attention spans. We often spend conversations waiting for our turn to speak instead of giving our full attention to the other person. Active listening not only helps improve the experience of a conversation, it ensures you grasp the crux of what was said which is the first step towards developing empathy.

Every leader will likely say that they listen to their employees. Listening is something deeper than simply hearing what was said. Leaders should listen to grasp the other person’s perspective correctly, and they should be willing to be moulded by it. Leaders who put in sincere effort to understand the other person will come off as genuinely concerned which makes them trustworthy.

Be Humble

The assumption that there is something about a leader which makes them think well than everyone else is a common stereotype. This stereotype has made some leaders proud and arrogant which is a recipe for mistrust and disunity. Just like Icarus flying too close to the sun, pride can lead to failure. At any rate, you would be hard pressed to find any proud leader who is well received by the people they lead.

Putting yourself in other person’s shoes; being open to admit that you’re wrong or showing that you don’t have all the answers, but are willing to find possible solutions, is the hallmark of true leadership. Humility goes a long way to show that you face challenges just like anyone else which earns you the trust and respect of other people. Some leaders go as far as taking blame for failures, and yet give away the credit for success.

Be Empathic

Some of us have the idea that great leaders need only be strong personalities. On the contrary, research from this study indicates that competent people lacking warmth often illicit resentment. And the inverse is less surprising; warm, incompetent people illicit pity. But a key takeaway from this research is that empathy is important for connecting with the people you lead. Nothing is more inspiring than a leader who is empathic.

As a leader, you can also show empathy by seeing the world through the eyes of others and creating a shared sense of purpose in your team or organisation. Seeing the world through the eyes of others extends your capacity to understand patterns in a complex business environment, and relate to other people’s perspectives. Creating a shared sense of purpose enables you to harness your employees’ synergies.

Connect, Then Lead: The Ultimate Leadership Lesson

A Harvard Business Review article titled “Connect, Then Lead” by Amy Cuddy et al suggests that projecting “warmth” is important to [exert] influence. Similarly, in this article, I have explained warmth as a bond based on active listening; being humble and empathy. Cuddy and her fellow authors also revealed that leaders who project needless strength run the risk of instilling fear in the very people they want to inspire. Fear breeds mistrust which creates disharmony through lack of faith in the capabilities of leadership.

As a leader, we might think that leading is all about imprinting our will on our teams and the organisation. But this approach severely lacks in light of the realities of an evolving workforce. In a BCG article on Adaptive Leadership, Sam Palmisano, former CEO of IBM remarks,

“Hierarchical, command-and-control approaches simply do not work anymore. They impede information flows inside companies, hampering the fluid and collaborative nature of work today.”

Today’s complex, dynamic workplace demands an adaptive leadership that is built on influence.

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This article was originally published on crescendo-global.com

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