No matter how hard you try to be the best leader for your people, no matter how motivated your people are, if a friend or family member needs help, your people are out and on the rescue.
And that's totally normal and absolutely fine. But the principle behind it, is very interesting to improve your leadership style.
Connection and
trust are 2 keywords in that.
Read on and discover what they mean for your leadership style.
As already described in one of my previous blogs (
"How AI forces you to change your role as a leader"), leaders are here to connect people with each other, and to make them feel respected and loved.
To build those connections, we need trust. You as a leader should be trustworthy, and the organisation as a whole should display it's trustworthiness.
And there's only one way to build that trust, by having open and honest conversations.
That is the basis for a sincere leadership style. If you ask a question, ask it out of open and honest interest, and listen to the answer (otherwise you shouldn't have asked the question in the first place).
If people tell you something, show them that you honestly care about what's going on (otherwise you're probably on the wrong spot).
It sounds so basic and so logical, because it is so extremely human. And still, everyday I see so many examples where it is not applied.
- People who make it a habit of asking how you're doing when entering a meeting room, but then absolutely not paying attention to your answer.
- Asking for a proposal while the decision is actually already been taken.
- Knowing that someone will be fired, but postpone the communication as long as possible to not negatively impact his/her motivation.
- ...
If you are a truly ambitious leader, then you know you will not get far without the full, uncompromised support of your people. And sincerity is key in that!
So how do you start being more sincere?
- Know yourself
Only when you have a lot of self knowledge, and are aware and at ease with your 'dark sides', you can truly be genuine.
- Keep it relevant
Being open and honest is absolutely the goal, but should everybody know everything?
This has nothing to do with keeping information behind. It has to do with delivering the right information to the right people so they can do something with it.
Over-information kills the productivity anyhow.
- Be attuned to the organisational and/or cultural differences
What and how you say it, can be interpreted completely different depending on the background of the person who's listening. So a certain amount of sensitivity is never a wrong thing when being open and honest.
To achieve the first point, you can invest in your personal development and growth.
The two other points are a matter of practise and feedback.
So connecting with people around you to talk and get support on this, is always a good idea.
You can find support of like minded people in the
Ambitious Leader Community, which is a free Facebook group hosted by The Happiness Factory, to connect you with other ambitious leaders, ask questions, and share advice.
If you want to accelerate your growth in this Sincere Leadership, then
contact me directly and we will clarify a specific growth path for you.
.jpg)
