Build great relationships
This week my friend Dr. Neal Anderson is taking over The Data Daily emails. He’s the Founder of CARTO Leadership, a leadership development and coaching firm. This week he’s writing about leadership. Read his email from Monday, and Tuesday.
Scholars debate the best leadership definitions. Not the kind of party I get excited about, but to each his own.
Regardless of where you are in your understanding of yourself, what leadership is, and how the two fit together, I can tell you one thing with certainty - in the most basic sense, leadership requires followers. If you’re doing everything a great leader does, but look around you and no one is following, you may just be an awesome person, not a leader.
My point; leadership requires people, and people presupposes relationship.
The most simple thing you can do today to increase your leadership impact, influence, and productivity is to build great relationships.
In fact, an entire leadership theory is devoted to explaining the phenomenon of leader-follower relationships and how the better they are, the greater the impact the leader can make. It’s not rocket science, and the best stuff out there is often the simplest. It’s called the Leader-Member Exchange theory, or LMX for short.
The basic premise of LMX theory focuses on aspects of the leader-follower relationship, as opposed to leadership traits, behaviors, styles, or leadership characteristics. It’s all a fancy way of saying, that when a leader has a positive and healthy relationship with a direct report or follower, there is a greater level of trust, which often translates to a more impactful working relationship.
Don’t overcomplicate it. Start with building an actual relationship with the individuals you get to lead.
Ask questions, and get to know what they like.
Learn about their family and significant people in their life.
Be sincere.
If you build a relationship with a follower where one hasn’t existed, I promise you’ll see results. However, don’t expect results overnight. Relationships aren’t built in a day and neither is effective leadership. Take your time, settle in, and make intentional, relationship-building conversations a part of your leadership approach.
Neal Anderson, PhD
