Leaders should focus on relationships
The most important leadership skills are not the mastery of the nuts and bolts of your position, said Simon T. Bailey. Instead, it’s the so-called soft skills -- developing interpersonal relationships -- that are the highest priority.
Bailey, a consultant and speaker who worked in leadership, sales, and customer service at the Walt Disney Co., Hyatt Hotels, and the Orlando Convention and Visitors Bureau, is the founder of the Brilliance Institute.
“If you die tomorrow, your board position will be posted and they will find a replacement,” Bailey said. “Build your life on who will be crying at your funeral.”
During a Focus on Education Lecture March 30, he suggested leaders consider their own emotional commitment to their jobs, as well as the level of emotional commitment to their team members, employees, customers, and the community.
Consider those same questions for the board, he said. “What is your board’s current level of emotional commitment to each other? What is your board’s current level of commitment to the key stakeholders in the community?”
For Bailey, emotional commitment is the key to leadership success.
If employees have an emotional commitment to their jobs, they give four times more discretionary effort to their jobs than those who are what Bailey called rationally committed to their jobs. Those folks, he said, are the ones who say, “I do what I do because I have to.” Those who are emotionally committed to their jobs say, “We do what we do because we want to, not because we have to.”
Bailey pointed out the differences between bosses and leaders. “A leader inspires enthusiasm about change,” he said. “A boss wants to control. Bosses generate compliance. Leaders generate commitment.”
He suggested that leaders do things such as:
• Learn more about others by asking about interests.
• Be aware of times when co-workers and employees are suffering challenges in their personal lives.
• Recognize people on their birthdays and hire dates.
• Ask others how things are going for them, and ask them what they need and want.
Interpersonal skills are also important for gaining cooperation on the board, Bailey said.
Bailey asked the audience to consider someone on their boards whom they do not get along with and think of three things these difficult people contribute to the board. “I can’t change them,” he said. “But I can change how I see them.”
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