As a high-performing leader, you need to continually increase your interpersonal and professional relationships to accomplish more with less. To be such a leader, you must be expert in ensuring that all those involved with your business know you care for their wellbeing.
Since leading a business is much like nurturing and developing a family, balancing several integrated and aligned roles and responsibilities, an important leadership best practice is caring about people.
Caring about people is a key practice in effective leadership. To help your business achieve its shared vision, you must ensure all those who come in contact with your organization know that everyone in the business sincerely cares about their professional – and sometimes personal – needs.
- Treat everyone with respect. High-performing leaders respect all those who have a relationship with the organization. This means that no matter what the employee's role and responsibilities are, every individual is considered important to the success of the business. Begin this process at orientation, so employees know on their first day that they are members of a large team, and that each of their contributions will be respected and valued. Customers and/or clients must also be treated in the highest regard.
- Care about those who can make the shared vision happen. Ensure there is a rigorous selection process for strategically important new hires such as VPs or directors. As their leader, you must ensure at the start of their involvement that they know they will be professionally (and consistently) cared for. This will have them commit, buy in and take ownership to help you lead and build the business into a continually improving and sustainable high-performing organization.
- Prove you care about your employees, using actions and not just words. Leaders who walk their talk ensure their employees know they are appreciated. Examples include sponsoring a charity that has a tie-in to a group within the business, offering flexible hours for parents with young families and paying professional development costs that increase your employees' capacity to improve their return on investment to the organization. Helping your team members raise their ability to meet professional commitments results in them being more willing to go the extra mile for the business. Further, when your employees know you care for them, it reduces turnover, creating an additional value-add back into your organization many times over and resulting in higher performance for clients and customers.
- Consider the need for your employees to maintain a balance in life. As a high-performing leader, you know the significant ROI variables that positively impact performance. Good health is No. 1 and effectively maintaining family relationships is No. 2. You respect and encourage your employees to perform at a high level, but don't want them to overwork, putting their lives off balance. Everyone in the organization needs to be encouraged to find their own level of equilibrium, taking time off to recharge when necessary and enjoying stress-free vacations.
- Express appreciation regularly. Show you are grateful for the consideration provided by your employees. Highlight their exemplary performance throughout the organization so everyone knows you appreciate their contributions. Schedule gratitude luncheons to honour those who help the company's shared vision become a reality. Hand out awards, gifts or bonuses to your very best and brightest. Expressing thanks by celebrating those who make your organization perform at its highest level is just good business.
This column is the sixth in a six-part series of edited excerpts from Don Andrews' forthcoming book "Increasing Your Performance Intelligence®: How High Performers Follow Best Practices to Effectively Execute Their Strategies."
