The act of developing work relationships has the unfortunate potential to damage a leader’s reputation. You may wonder whether your employees like you or how you have influenced their opinion. When employees like working with you, there is greater potential to resolve any future conflict and difficult circumstances. However, if they don’t think too kindly of you, these situations will become more complicated to address.
As a leader, how invested are you in work relationships with coworkers or employees? Do you view it more like a smart investment, or only do so because you believe it is expected of you? If you contribute more toward investments rather than withdrawals, your investment will grow positively over time. Otherwise, employees may harbor resentment toward you.
A successful leader must portray at least basic skills regardless of their nature toward people. With the right amount of pressure, leaders can be easily convinced to cut unnecessary corners that keep the relationship running smoothly. However, with some work, you can get your professional relationships back on time with minimal effort.
Treat Others with Respect
It is a great honor to demonstrate and communicate the value held by another person. Looking back, these types of employees will keep you close to their hearts for years to come. Eventually, they may forget about some of the details, but they won’t forget how you made them feel important or needed. Maybe you struggle to see the value within an employee, but it’s essential to approach it with the right frame of mind.
Express Gratitude and Appreciation
The journey to expressing your thanks is not a race; it’s how you get there in an honest way. This task may be fraught with pitfalls for leadership that struggle to express gratitude and appreciation. Separate yourself from the task and take a moment to reflect on how they have contributed to the team or company. This exercise will enable you to realize why you are thankful and equip you to thank your employees wholeheartedly.
Encourage Generously and Often
Contrary to popular belief, it isn’t possible to encourage others too much or too often. While many employees may say they aren’t the type to crave encouragement or appreciation, chances are, they can still benefit from the slightest amount. In all honesty, they will be left feeling heard and more valued than ever before. The fact remains, as human beings, we need encouragement from time to time.
The Benefit of the Doubt
When people you work with make a mistake, you must give them the benefit of the doubt. There could be any number of reasons for their misstep, but you shouldn’t jump to conclusions without speaking to them directly. Perhaps they made a comment that didn’t sit well or sent a harassing email that needs addressing. Whatever the case, remember to extend grace where it isn’t deserved to garner unfounded trust.
Identify Everyone’s Best Attributes
If you are determined to discover the best in someone, you are bound to find it. Every person has something special, and it is your responsibility as their leader to learn it and put it to use for the service of others. Depending on the person, you may meet specific challenges in making significant progress. Should an employee present challenging circumstances, remember to extend the benefit of the doubt.
Natural Kindness
As one of the most commonly overlooked aspects of leadership, kindness should remain within your wheelhouse for regular use. While focusing on bold vision, decision-making skills, and strategy is easy, a natural aptitude for kindness takes priority. As an essential quality, kindness makes room for genuine exchange, connection, and trust to be exchanged between individuals. Even the wisest leaders understand the joy and peace kindness can bring into the worst situations.
Active Listening
By nature, human interaction tends to lack the skill of active listening. Communication plays a huge role in our behavior, especially at work. On the other hand, listening communicates our love, value, and respect for ourselves. The speed at which we live our lives expresses a decrease in value for others in a desire for self-service. Failing to listen to your employees will hurt your leadership in the long run, leaving team members feeling undervalued and silenced. Authentic listening involves good intent from the heart in an environment that focuses completely on the individual speaking so you may hear them fully.
A Generous Spirit
Leaders with a generous spirit tend to lead on an entirely different plane than those who don’t. Their entire disposition prevents them from holding back in an attractive, compelling manner. Though generosity is typically financial, there is more to this skill than money. Generosity also involves sharing ideas, words of affirmation, problem-solving, and giving of your time.
Owning Up to Mistakes
Once a big mistake has been made, people don’t tend to forget it. Eventually, when too many mistakes have been left unaccounted for, leadership loses the trust and respect of their employees. The only way to counteract this effect is to take responsibility for your mistakes. Better yet, be accountable for your actions from the beginning, and you will be poised to avoid setbacks, failures, and more. If it is your mess, take the time to clean it up rather than passing the buck to another.
Genuinely Care
Very few leaders care about their employees. On the other hand, it is easy to forget the importance of showing your team exactly how much you care. This example is especially true in high-pressure situations where caring benefits people the most. Although you cannot “learn” to care per se, you can develop a general desire for the benefit of others through increased empathy and compassion.
