Follow the Yellow Brick Road to Success - If You Only Had a Heart

One of the legendary travel partners of Dorothy is the Tin Man, who longs for a heart. Throughout the journey, there is a debate between the importance of a brain (Scarecrow) and the emotional necessity of a heart.

Do you have passion and compassion in your business? How’s that conversation going in your company? Are you even having it?

The cost to a company can be staggering if your leadership is struggling in this area. It’s a factor that is rarely tracked and often not acted upon. The costs come in the form of lost work productivity, delays due to miscommunication and, most importantly, turnover.

I’ve been a part of some wonderful teams and organizations, ones that engage their employees and make them feel as if they're truly a part of something great because they're leading with passion. Sadly, I’ve also seen my fair share of what could be considered “heartless leadership.” Those leaders that don’t respect their staff, don’t value their input, don’t hesitate to throw them under the bus, don’t hesitate to change the rules on them without notice and don't give any impression that they care about anything but themselves and their own agenda. These bosses, who don’t truly understand the culture that they’re creating, also don’t stand a chance of keeping talent around.

It’s a painful thought to think that either through pride or insecurity, even the most dominant company in their field runs the risk of hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of dollars in turnover cost, reputation damage and missed opportunity of new business through transition. Book smarts, industry knowledge and smoke and mirror leadership can only go so far when you aren’t leading with pure intention. This type of "heartless" behavior and sanctioned incompetence of leadership is more prevalent than boards of companies would care to admit.

With the right emotional engagement and communication, the flip opposite could occur and provide amazing financial and cultural results. I've read many studies that show employees will perform at a higher level, and work above their requirements, if they feel that the company and leadership care about them.

I’ve written before about the dangers of coddling and participation awards, but this concept doesn’t go that soft.

Vulnerability is also a major key in this culture building. We're all human, we all make mistakes and (hopefully) we all have a passion to do good things with our time. It's ok to share some of your insights into a project, why you might think a certain initiative is critical to client service from an emotional level or admit that you were off on a concept. While striving for excellence even the best of any industry stumbles on the way up. Anyone who says that it's been perfect footing on the way to the top, only climbed a couple of feet up.

Think about the last time you, as a performer, were thanked, listened to, sought out or engaged by a leader in your organization. Even a simple “Thank you for ____,” goes such a long way with employee engagement and performance. We all want to feel included, appreciated and energized. By taking a few minutes every day to intentionally lead your team to their goals through some insight and emotion, you stand a much better chance of building the right momentum with those around you.

It’s like waving in traffic when someone lets you in: it’s not hard, doesn’t take much time and makes people feel appreciated. (Note: if you don’t wave in traffic, please start)