When A Leader Demonstrates To Employees That They Care, Success Is Inevitable

A newly minted sales manager held a meeting with her staff to discuss the company’s shortfall for the past quarter. One of her sales agents missed her targets, and the manager became verbally abusive to the agent in front of the entire team. But what happened next shocked the whole team.

     Within a week of the incident, the sales agent resigns. The manager found out later that the agent was in a bitter divorce and custody battle with her ex-husband that took a toll on her life personally, emotionally, and professionally. Now some people will read this and think well; you need to leave your personal issues at home because work is work right! If you have personal issues, deal with it; the company is not responsible for helping you. I heard this from someone I had a conversation with, and it is always amazing when I encounter “leaders” who treat their people like commodities as opposed to people, you know, a human being with a heart and feeling. But what is even more bizarre is that these “leaders” would complain that their company is not living up to its potential. 

    Leadership requires that you build a relationship with your team. If one of your people is dealing with a significant personal issue and you are oblivious to it, or your employee chooses not to talk to you or even mention it, then something is wrong with the culture, or worse, the company is over-manage and under-led.

    I read this story once about someone who experienced an extraordinary moment at their job during a very challenging project with his team. The CEO of the company, sensing something was wrong, gave a compelling and motivational speech that left each person believing that they can achieve anything.

    Half an hour later, everyone left the room looking at each other and saying: “Yes, let’s do; let’s go for it.” Usually, managers can drive businesses, but what separates the great companies from the good ones is inspirational leaders. According to Fernando Vilas, these leaders can inspire others to follow them, even in very adverse situations.

    For example, inspirational leaders can transmit a message to each person in their team. They spread enthusiasm and integrity, acting as a role model. They are great at setting real-life examples that make people identify with them. These leaders can leverage the meaning of goals and tasks. Their emotions are magnetic, touching the most buried feeling inside of their people. They give purpose to the organization, explaining the personal reasons to achieve them as opposed to following an order from a manager. Contrary to what managers usually do, they develop each employee individually, with full credibility.

    They understand their employees’ needs, and they genuinely care about them. They give their people the importance they deserve by soliciting feedback and engaging their people in personal topics as well. They enter into real valuable dialogues that build a healthy relationship between leader and follower.

    To continually inspire your people to perform at their optimum best, you must understand your people’s perspectives. You must give them the respect they deserve, which is reflected in the service provided to their customers. Empathy allows you to achieve this, and as a result, the most critical skill leaders need today is empathy, and the best leaders are empathetic leaders, according to Lolly Daskal. However, many people today believe that emphatic leaders are weak. For some reason, they think that this “soft Skill” is a nonessential variable that adds no value to their leadership and, by extension, their organization when all the studies have link empathy to superior business results, according to Bruna.

When a leader demonstrates to employees that they care, the reciprocity reaction kicks in, to the point where they put more effort into helping their leader. By extension, their organization becomes successful, according to Harvey Deutschendorf. Successful organizations are aware of this, and their leaders continuously look for ways to notice, compliment, and find ways to show their appreciation to their staff. Show people that you care and ask them questions about their hobbies, challenges, families, and aspirations. This genuine curiosity about their lives will help foster a great, long-lasting relationship. 

That’s what leaders do; that’s what leadership is all about. If you have no relationship with your team and you are comfortable with your people coming to work, completing their task, and leaving with no type of interaction, please, do us a favor and don’t call yourself a leader.

    By the way, can you guess the sales manager’s reaction when she found out about the agent situation? Yes, you guess right, the manager showed no remorse and indicated that any agent’s personal problem is not her problem; her only concern is meeting and exceeding her targets.

What a company to work for!

About The Author

Can you inspire your team's hearts and minds every day?

Inspiration creates the highest levels of engagement, it is what separates the best leaders from everyone else, and it is what employees want most in their leaders. The Inspirational Leader, Inspire Your Team To Believe In The Impossible was written to help all leaders successfully navigate all the disruptions in today fiercely competitive world we need a new generation of leaders who care deeply for the well-being of their team and who understand that their people are the heart of their leadership. Each chapter in this book will push you to become the leader you were destined to be; a leader of influence, a leader of value, a leader of vision, and most importantly, an inspirational leader. Click Here For Your Copy.

I am the founder of Leadership First, an organization committed to publishing the very best inspirational leadership quotes and articles from the best leadership minds in the world. We are dedicated to helping every leader create an excellent organization and to provide a daily cup of inspiration for all leaders.