Effective leadership involves leading with the heart. This article clarifies the difference between hard leadership and heart leadership.
Leadership Characteristics – Managing With Feeling
Many business owners feel that they need to have “hard” leadership characteristics in order to get ahead or be successful. They believe that if they show any weakness or flexibility, that staff will “pounce” and take advantage of them.
When you look inside their companies, you see unhappy people (both managers and staff), all tightly hanging onto what is right in their view and making sure they get what they are entitled to.
It can seem to be a never ending spiral downwards – with managers every now and again showing kindness only to feel that it was not appreciated and with staff feeling that managers do not care about them as people. Staff put the hours in, but don’t give of their heart and initiative. Managers give of their money through wages, but don’t give of their compassion and caring.
What is missing is heart – the true sharing of respect and compassion between managers and staff and flowing onto customers. When you manage with heart, you start with the foundation belief that each person wants to do their best and given the right situation and environment, the best is what will be contributed.
Imagine that your workspace is like a home and you are looking at a family – what makes the most loving and nurturing families? The warmest families are ones where everyone is clear on the rules, they know who is doing what and when and the family members are free to communicate their feelings in a space of mutual respect and openness.
There is understanding that at times not everyone will agree and there are processes in place about how decisions are made during those times. A family member is not expelled from the family for having a different view and differences of opinion are talked through.
So how do you create a space of mutual respect and nurturing at work? Start by working out if you truly do want a workspace of respect and nurturing or if you are happy with how things are. Managing from heart takes time and work to achieve and is not to be entered into lightly. Are you willing to put in the effort? Will the results in your mind outweigh the challenges along the way? Unless you have a big enough “why”, then things will remain the same.
Next look at how you act within your own family. Many managers I work with mirror their work behaviour with their behaviour in the family. If you are a distant parent and never there for your children – are you a distant manager? If you are a control freak with your home and how chores are to be performed – are you a control freak as a manager? If your behaviour is not congruent with where you want to be as a manager, talk with someone to learn new patterns of behaviour.
Strong relationships are the next step. Think about it – you are more likely to listen when someone you care about tells you something negative about your behaviour than if a stranger passing by says the same thing. You need to know your staff as people first – what gets them interested and excited to be at work, what motivates them to be the best, why are they working? If you don’t have a strong relationship with each staff member and spend time building those relationships, then your team will only be a shadow of its potential.
Just like all relationships, a quick chat over a cup of coffee every 6 months at performance review time will not form deep and trusting work relationships. Nor does a one sided approach where “you tell me all about you and I will keep me private”.
What is needed is regular exchange of information and sharing of thoughts and feelings to create depth in the relationship.
Regular discussion on boundaries is critical. In the absence of data to the contrary, people will believe they are doing a good job and doing what is needed for success. If you don’t regularly share your definition of success, how can they achieve it?
This raises the challenging question of poor performers. If you are 100% sure that you have been clear on your boundaries, have understood your staff member as a person, fairly rewarded them for the job that they have done and have made sure they have the tools for achieving the tasks and still the person is not performing – then a difficult discussion has to be had.
Just like a child in a family needs discipline and without it goes off the rails, staff members also need the boundaries of discipline. Take your lessons for challenging conversations from within your family. Just like you would never consider correcting a child by yelling at them in front of their friends and expecting a positive change in behaviour, don’t do the same with your staff member.
If you have to discipline, do so in private and give them the respect and courtesy of listening as well as sharing your view. Even if you have to sack someone – you can do it with respect and understanding of the emotional impact your decision has and act to minimize the impact as far as possible.
The bottom line, if you are not sure whether you are managing with heart stop and ask – Do I feel valued in my work? Do my staff feel valued? Do my customers feel valued? If you get a “no” to any of these questions – stop and look at where you can open your heart, extend compassion and understanding and build relations.
By Ingrid Cliff is a freelance copywriter in Brisbane Australia and the Chief Word Wizard of Heart Harmony – her writing services studio that helps put … …
Ingrid Cliff is an experienced HR Manager and Human Resources Writer who is the author of “Instant HR Policies and Procedures” and “Employee Performance Reviews : Tips, Templates & Tactics”.
There are many business lessons to learn from nature because business replicates nature in many, many ways. For one, they are both about winning in an environment of apparent competition – the classic “survival of the fittest” Darwinian theory. One must adapt to change or one will become obsolete and go extinct. However, in what appears to be an environment of competition with both, cooperation is the number one key for survival. In nature , plants and animals do at one level compete to survive. But what’s more evident is on a different level they cooperate to survive. From foxes following grizzly bears looking for prey, to ants cleaning up bio-garbage that otherwise would breed all manner of problematic bacteria, the evidence is everywhere. In business these same types of associations look like vendor/manufacturer relationships, marketing/manufacturing/customer service alliances, and even competitive companies cooperating to create alliances that produce a greater win for all involved.
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All manner of symbiotic relationships thrive in nature and business that at first may not be obvious, but they are there none-the-less. Could it bethat in business and in nature, the rule isn’t so much “survival of the fittest” but “survival of the givest?” Meaning that to have a symbiotic relationship with another entity, be it another company or a plant, animal, or fungus, one must give first. All symbiotic relationships begin with giving, and giving requires trust and faith – two traits the majority of modern business leaders consider weaknesses of naïve idealist revolutionaries. I’m going to suggest that those prejudices are unfounded and are based in ignorance of what truly makes life go round.
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“We are symbionts on a symbiotic planet, and if we care to, we find symbiosis everywhere.” This was said by Lynn Margulis, an internationally acclaimed botanist and ecologist. Dr. Vincent Muli Kituku, a famous business strategist once said that “your ability to thrive in your professional endeavors, at all times depends on how healthy your associations are. Your growth also means more benefits for your partners, whether employers or associates with whom you exchange ideas, services or products.”
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Take the example of a bird eating ticks off a rhino’s back. The bird needs the rhino to provide food, the rhino needs the bird to rid it of ticks. Take the example of two outdoor adventur companies providing different services. Say one provides hiking tours in the Grand Canyon and the other provides rafting trips. They may appear to be in competition, but the truth is they are both bringing people to the Canyon. They are both dependent on the success of the tourism industry, and it will be difficult for one to survive without the other.
So my challenge for you is to explore your paradigm – is it competition-oriented or is it cooperation-oriented? And regardless to begin to look for symbiotic relationships. I’m going to suggest that your success in business is in direct proportion to the number of and quality of symbiotic relationships you have developed. It may be a survival of the fittest world, but we’re all more fit when we work together.
Several famous leadership quotes can inspire and motivate you to aim for something that is beyond anything you ever thought possible. Here are a few famous leadership quotes you can ponder on, and some great ways to apply them in real life.
Leadership Quote # 1 – “The best teacher is the one who suggests rather than dogmatizes, and inspires his listener with the wish to teach himself. – Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton”
Essential to becoming an effective leader is being able to consider the opinion and insight of your subordinates. Although a leader should establish bureaucracy, there must be freedom within the organizational structure to keep ideas free flowing.
Leadership Quote # 2 – “Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results. – George S. Patton”
Effective leaders don’t merely instruct. Instead, they delegate tasks to their staff or crew according to their skill, and they trust their team members to do the job well.
When you have confidence in your people’s ability, this will challenge them to live up to your standards and aim to do better.
Leadership Quote # 3 – “The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet. – Theodore M. Hesburgh”
This is one of my favorite famous leadership quotes. Success lies in your ability to create objectives and goals. Only then can you determine the steps to take in order to get there. Hence, you will also be able to plan what actions to take in case you experience difficulties along the way.
Leadership Quote # 4 – “I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow.” – Woodrow Wilson”
Successful leaders not only rely on their own knowledge, but they make an effort to learn new ideas and leverage from other people’s skills to improve their team’s chances of success.
Leadership Quote # 5 – “The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out and meet it.” – Thucydides”
Leaders need to recognize the risks involved, but should not be afraid to make big decisions. They must pursue their mission with relentless determination. Only when you realize your vision and act on it will you reap the rewards of your hard work.
You can apply these famous leadership quotes towards your aim for greatness.
By Michael Lee
Michael LeeLevel: PlatinumMichael Lee is a master persuader, professional copywriter, self-improvement expert, and author of “How To Be An Expert Persuader… In 20 Days or Less.” His … …
Discover how to possess persuasively leadership skills and ethically use mind control techniques to influence anyone to your way of thinking. Get your FREE course that reveals groundbreaking persuasion secrets at http://www.20daypersuasion.com/secrets.htm
