Cathy Liska Great Leaders Are Human
by Jacqueline Brodnitzki, President, Conscious Success
The fifth way great leaders stand out is they show their human side. We’ve talked a lot about understanding our team members, and, if we don’t show our human side we run the risk of looking inauthentic.
Sure, our teams know our professional persona, they see us manage through thick and thin and they know how we tick in the office. This isn’t enough. It’s important for folks to know us as a person—to know about us as a leader, our challenges, our personal goals, how we aspire to grow, and how we have grown to our current role.
This makes us human and helps our team members see that we’re juggling a lot, too. It offers valuable information for them on how to grow and develop to the next level.
In corresponding with a senior executive, he shared this, “I always tried to balance the right amount of non-formal engagement with my teams. My inclination was to sometimes go too far toward personal matters, but I always felt that was a better extreme than just being a dispassionate leader only focused on work matters.
I believe that it also extends to client relationships. There will always be mistakes/tough spots in business relationships – if the client doesn’t know you at all as a person, there is little mercy for mistakes. If you have even a modest level of personal relationship with a client, they tend to give you the benefit of the doubt when mistakes inevitably arise.”
Making this non-formal engagement a two-way street, with both team members and clients, enables us to show our passion and develop real connections.
Let’s take advantage of opportunities to open up and be real this week.
