How To Make Room For More Meaningful Relationships In Business

Being a leader means mastering the art of juggling both the current task and all the challenges it presents, but also keeping an eye on the horizon for new challenges and opportunities. This constant balancing act makes it easy to forget that the value of being connected to your colleagues is equally as important as being effective and efficient at getting the job done. Personal connections enrich and support the work at hand. Thus, leaders must also focus on being personable and engaging in their relationships.

As a coach and leader myself, I am often looking for meaningful metaphors to demonstrate how leaders can be more successful. I was recently reminded of the importance of relationships in leadership when my husband and I traveled to Italy with several of our family members. We were fortunate enough to be hosted by dear friends of my in-laws who are natives of Pesaro. Though the landscape was breathtakingly beautiful, the architecture was inspirational, and I enjoyed the savory food and delectable wine, what impressed me most was the allure and authenticity of the people and their relationships.

From the moment we met our new “friends,” we were embraced as family. We did not have to “do” anything to earn or deserve their affection. We didn’t even have to “wait” for a certain period of time to prove ourselves. In fact, it was quite the opposite. We were welcomed with warm smiles, holding of hands, sincere hugs, kisses and instantly meaningful conversation.

I immediately became skeptical (even though I loved it). I thought, “This is just because they are long-term friends of my in-laws.” But over the course of 10 days in Italy, I found this sort of charm and openness to be consistent in most of the people I met.

Even though this behavior was observed in a shop or a market and not in a boardroom, the lesson is the same: Relationships were the center focus.

Recognizing Our Segmented Approach To Leadership


This experience caused me to reflect on my own view of relationships and how I interact with strangers, new acquaintances and colleagues. I have a tendency to be very focused (especially during work hours). If a specific meeting time was not scheduled, I rush any “interruptions” or “spontaneous encounters” in order to get back to my scheduled agenda. On the other hand, when my work is done and it is time for social and/or family time, then I shift my focus and energy there.

Unfortunately, life is not so black and white, and this segmented style of leadership does not enhance or develop relationships. I realized that in doing this, I might be missing out on much of the richness of life that my Italian friends have mastered.
As leaders, we need to be self-aware of our strengths as well as our challenges, especially when our challenges are an overuse of our strengths. My ability to focus is a strength. However, when overused, I miss opportunities: opportunities to be in the moment, learn more about someone, what motivates them, their ideas, struggles or just what they did over the weekend.

The saying is still true, “People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.” The question we must ask ourselves then is how do we balance focus and drive with openness and spontaneity, especially as it pertains to relationships?

Making Room For Meaningful Relationships In Business

The byproduct of truly connecting with people, both personally and professionally, is that it creates trust and provides the proverbial “motivational carrot” that brings loyalty, commitment and drive in organizations. For example, due to the nature of our work as coaches and consultants, most of our team members are part-time contractors. There have been times I am working on a project that would greatly benefit from the expertise of one of the other team members who is not necessarily delivering that particular service. Fortunately for me and our clients, all of our team members will do their best to make themselves available, not because they will be paid, but because of the value we all place on our relationships.

With my Italian inspiration, I am committing to making changes in my own leadership. I will commit to “be in the moment” more often, to ask questions of genuine interest rather than deliver a statement that is congenial but shuts down the conversation, and I will allow time in my schedule to be more flexible.

What will you do? Below are a few suggestions you may find helpful:


• Consider scheduling time to practice “spontaneity” in relationships and to embrace a less guarded or “too busy” approach throughout your day.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/

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3 Ways You Can Use Data For Better Employee Relationships Right Now

Every company relies on employees to provide the best work ethic possible to ensure the success of the product or service. More tools are popping up in order to harness the employee from the recruitment phase to retention. Although there are plenty of tools that can be utilized, there are also simple things that the employer can do internally to get the best from future and current employees.

Starting my company 12 years ago has allowed me the pleasure and the pain of seeing employees come and go. As many will note, it is far more expensive to obtain new talent than it is to retain, however, in the competitive landscape it is incredibly tricky to make sure great people stick around. As CEO, I have had triumphs in building a strong team and also have made mistakes that I have turned around to create tips that will allow any business owner the chance to build better employee relationships starting today.

1. Examine what keeps your current employees around

Your best recruiting assets are your current employees. In order to recruit talent that will help grow and build your business, it is key to find out what is keeping your current employees around and what has caused former employees to leave. Memory can be hazy and unreliable, which is why it is important to keep a record of "employee inventory." Key factors to consider, include salary, advancement opportunities, job challenge, and snacks (yes, snacks). Create a spreadsheet of every single employee and track at least six data points, but make them consistent for every employee. Identify the current salary range, how many promotions received, and what are their favorite snack items. Let the data be your top selling points in identifying potential employees to join your company.

2. Set core goals for employee review

It is important for both the employee and employer to be on the same page for what is expected of them. It is crucial for both the employee and employer to have data when an individual surpasses (or under performs) expectations. Setting up a standard employee review, however, is not an entirely effective way of measuring this performance. Instead, it is key to pair a base of general company expectations with individualized data metrics. If there is a want or need to include attributes such as attitude and community building, it is important to assign a number to correspond with the behavior. The soft data and the hard data can provide a full scope of how the employee lifts the company both in culture and in growth.

3. Know when your employee is about to leave and stop them

You do not need to stalk your employee's internet history in order to know if they are leaving. Instead, you can know by looking at past employee behavior and by simply asking. Now, this does not mean blatantly asking the question, but rather looking at the responses given by past employees for leaving and generating questions that highlight those issues so you are able to address them and prevent them from leaving. If you identify that most of the past employees left when their projects stayed static for a year, perhaps engage current employees fitting this description with, "Are there any tasks in the project that you would like to own?" Whatever question you might pose, make sure that both the question and the answer are recorded.

It is truly important to look at all interactions, answers, and moments as data points. Soft data is incredibly nuanced and hard to track in a standard service. This human element of data is the key advantage an employer can utilize in ensuring that future and current employees bring forth the most value to the company and that the company can bring the most value to them.

Source: http://www.inc.com/
Image Credit: Getty Images




ABOUT WNFP
Westchester Networking for Professionals (WNFP) is a business networking association dedicated to helping small businesses and entrepreneurs develop, expand and grow. We offer affordable opportunities to help create a positive impact and advancement in your business interests and personal quality of life to take you to the next level.
Stay Connected with WNFP!

The 4 Types of Relationships That Can Make or Break Your Career

You hear it all the time as a business leader or entrepreneur, "your success will depend upon the people you surround yourself with." That's true... you must find the best talent and get them on your team and in your company. No doubt about it. But, there is one fatal flaw that leaders make in the "people" department over and over again. In both startup situations, and among seasoned leaders, I see them focusing on finding the right people to do the work, but not giving attention to the ingredients of those relationships that actually fuel performance, and increase their own performance as well.

Ask any high performer about their best season in business or in life... or their worst season, and you will always find one thing to be true: there was another person or persons playing a pivotal part during that time. The neglected truth of performance is that to succeed and perform well, you must have the right kinds of relationships active along the way, and at the same time, you must avoid others.

We all know this intuitively, that some people affect us well and others can "do us in." But now neuroscience is able to explain the "how and why" this happens, and how to be better stewards of our relational world so that we are being fueled in the right ways, and escape the downfalls of the wrong kinds of relationships in both business and in life. Turns out that there are relationships that actually increase performance in our brains, and those that diminish us. Knowing how this works can mean the difference between success and failure.


Leaders that I work with find this simple map helpful to determine whom to get close to and whom to avoid. They also find it useful in their teams as well. I call it the "map of the leader's world," and there are only four possibilities, four possible corners of your world, where you can find yourself in any relationship:

Corner one: No connection.
This corner is the one of being surrounded by people, but still basically being "on your own." There is the absence of needs being met, an absence of real enhancement of fueling or connectedness that drives you to doing well and being better. Ultimately, you feel like you are by yourself, and it all depends on you, even with others around you or even on your team. "Alone...but with others." It is the corner of unmet needs.

Corner two: Bad connection.
In this corner, we have connection with someone(s) but the nature of the connection is that we end up feeling "bad," in some way. "Inferior"..."not good enough," always not measuring up. This is very different than being appropriately challenged or getting feedback, for those are invigorating. This dynamic, however, is demotivating and painful. De-energizing, as it feels like not matter what you do, it is never good enough and never reaches the bar. While in the short-term, this dynamic can fuel your efforts, over time it becomes debilitating to performance.

Corner three: Pseudo-good connection
Different than the aloneness of Corner One and the bad feelings of Corner Two, Corner Three feels "good." At least for a while. This is the connection that makes us feel good in some way....it medicates us. The approval of someone, the flattery that makes us feel we can do no wrong, the accolades of one more promotion or adulation all feel good, but are shallow and ultimately not performance-enhancing. A team or life surrounded by "yes" people and admirers is neither fueling nor challenging us towards improvement. It is like a "sugar-high," that feels good for a minute...until you need it again. It nourishes nothing.

Corner four: Real connection.
The only one that helps us or our business get better, Corner Four has attributes that are different than the other three. It is the place where we can be real about our needs for others, which overcomes the isolated efforts of Corner One. It is the place where we can be challenged to do better, like Corner Two, but in a way that is motivating and not diminishing. It is a place where feeling good happens as in Corner Three, but is based on real accomplishment, thriving and being connected from both our strengths and our weaknesses. It acknowledges failure and mistakes, unlike Corner Three, but is able to both metabolize those and use them for learning and "getting better." And it has other ingredients as well, such as support, ownership, modeling, enhancing self-control and regulation, energizing challenge with feedback, and more. It is "real," where we can be honest and authentic and be accepted and challenged.

I find that high performers always find a Corner Four place to live....both in work and in their personal lives. They also build their teams, boards and companies around Corner Four elements. Use this little map for you and your team, and I think it will help you figure out how to eliminate some pain, and enhance more of the results you are seeking.

Image Credit: Shutterstock
Source: https://www.entrepreneur.com


ABOUT WNFP
Westchester Networking for Professionals (WNFP) is a business networking association dedicated to helping small businesses and entrepreneurs develop, expand and grow. We offer affordable opportunities to help create a positive impact and advancement in your business interests and personal quality of life to take you to the next level.
Stay Connected with WNFP!