The Three Essential Traits Of Connected Leaders & Why It Matters

The Three Essential Traits Of Connected Leaders & Why It Matters

Michelle Sales (pctured below) is a speaker, trainer, coach and author of the new whitepaper The Connection Deficit: Why leaders must bring both head and heart to work to build trust, lift engagement and accelerate organisational results. In this guest post, Sales looks at the three traits of any great leader…

As a leader in HR, you are expected to be strategic, rational and focused on results. Yet equally your role relies on motivating and developing people – remember, you have ‘human’ in your title!
download

You need to lead with your head, as well as your heart, to connect the two, so you can, in turn, connect to other people: your team, boss, employees, customers and clients.

Connected leaders are open to learning, and seeking feedback to grow their leadership. They operate under the knowledge that they don’t have all the answers – the people they have around them can enhance their knowledge and enable them to lead even more effectively. They discuss future goals and tasks, as well as performance, with their team members, instead of burying it and hoping it will go away.

It is these high-quality connections, which renowned author and speaker Amy Cuddy reports in Harvard Business Review, ‘drives new levels of effort, creativity, confidence, engagement and performance.’ So here are the three essential traits of connected leaders and how you can practice them, too.

  1. Stay curious

Being curious and interested in your people is critical to building strong connections. As a leader, how else do you understand what drives and motivates your people if you are not curious? If you don’t invest the time in really getting to know them?

This kind of curiosity about your people, your employees, as individuals allows you to coach and motivate them using strategies and tools that are right for them rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach. It is also the key to identifying and retaining future talent.

Curiosity requires a willingness to listen to others, to learn from them and to get really interested about the skills and different strengths they can bring to not just a team but the whole organisation.

  1. Show you care

Employees feel greater trust with leaders who are compassionate. Harvard Business School’s Amy Cuddy and her research partner have shown that leaders who project warmth before establishing their competence are more effective than those who lead with toughness and skill. This is due to the trust that is created with warmth, kindness and compassion.

Compassion implies an interpersonal closeness that comes with responsibility, vulnerability and an absence of self-interest. There is more than adequate evidence now that leaders who practise this, and where this is valued at work, create workplaces that people want to work in and are also very productive. That’s what we want right!

  1. Be humble

Humility in leadership allows you to have an accurate perception of your strengths and weaknesses and to understand the needs of others. It allows you to recognise the contribution of others, which in turn means people feel valued.

One of the most thorough pieces of research on humility as a leadership trait was presented in Jim Collin’s Good to Great. He studied 1500 Fortune 500 companies that literally went from good to great over a 30-year period. His researchers found two distinct characteristics among the leaders of these companies: humility and a steely determination to do the right thing for the company.

Practising curiosity, compassion and humility, allows us, as well as our people, to bring our best selves to work. It is only when the three pieces of the puzzle are working, and working well, together that trust is built and strong connections are created.

This is when you exercise leadership in a way that people are connected and engaged and achieve real commitment (the heart) and results (the head).




Please login with linkedin to comment

Michelle Sales

Latest News

B&T’s Search For Australia’s Greatest Ad Heads To Channel 7
  • Advertising

B&T’s Search For Australia’s Greatest Ad Heads To Channel 7

B&T went through the looking glass this morning, with editor-in-chief David Hovenden (above) appearing on Channel 7’s The Morning Show to get the general public involved in our search for Australia’s Greatest Ad. Hovenden chatted with Kylie Gillies and stand-in host Matt Doran about what makes a great ad and showcasing some of our favourites […]

by B&T Magazine

B&T Magazine
Opinion: The Tall Planner’s Kate Smither On The DBA Dilemma
  • Opinion

Opinion: The Tall Planner’s Kate Smither On The DBA Dilemma

The science is not in question – smarter people than I, with far more data, have codified it. The logic is not up for grabs…it makes sense that creating mental shortcuts to your brand keeps you at the top of your mind. Lead image: Kate Smither – Owner, The Tall Planner I wouldn’t even take […]

Opinion

by B&T Magazine

B&T Magazine
African woman using a cellphone in an office alone
  • Marketing

Ortto & Tall Bob Partner To Deliver Better SMS & MMS For Australian & NZ Businesses

Two Australian-born technology providers have joined forces to bring more power and choice to marketers in Australia and New Zealand with mobile messaging that is more local, cost-effective, and integrated. It’s a partnership that sees two Australian software companies come together to deliver a world-class mobile-first solution for marketers building data-driven, personalised, omnichannel campaigns. While […]

Slew Of New Hires At Snap Inc.
  • Media

Slew Of New Hires At Snap Inc.

Snap Inc. has announced a number of new recruits. B&T unaware if it positively impacted SEEK's share price.

Reddit Gets Playful Brand Refresh
  • Technology

Reddit Gets Playful Brand Refresh

This will be of interest to any Reddit fans, graphic designers or lovers of an orange so bright it burns the retinas.

Zitcha & Broadsign Partner To Drive Global In-Store Retail Media Market
  • Advertising

Zitcha & Broadsign Partner To Drive Global In-Store Retail Media Market

Zitcha and Broadsign have teamed up to integrate the Broadsign out-of-home (OOH) advertising platform with Zitcha’s retail media platform. The collaboration empowers retailers to maximise and monetise in-store digital display networks and enables advertising partners to easily view and book available in-store inventory and review campaign performance alongside the retailer’s other media channels. With the […]

Double Rainbouu & 7-Eleven Launch Exclusive Summer Fashion Label
  • Marketing

Double Rainbouu & 7-Eleven Launch Exclusive Summer Fashion Label

Today, 7-Eleven has announced a one-of-a-kind collaboration with the popular Sydney-based anti-resort wear label Double Rainbouu. Dropping tomorrow, December 1, just in time for summer, this limited-edition capsule will infuse the fashion brand’s rebellious spirit with a distinctly iconic 7-Eleven flavour. The unisex collection features five must-have styles comprising two signature Hawaiian shirts, a peaked cap, a bucket hat […]

realestate.com.au Extends Major Partnership With Sydney Swans
  • Marketing

realestate.com.au Extends Major Partnership With Sydney Swans

Australian property site realestate.com.au has announced the extension of its partnership with the Sydney Swans for two further seasons. Lead image: Tom Harley, Owen Wilson and Tom McCartin realestate.com.au has partnered with the Swans since 2016 and has called the back of the club’s iconic guernsey home since becoming a major partner in 2020. This […]

Avenue C Nabs Paula Lopes From KINESSO
  • Marketing

Avenue C Nabs Paula Lopes From KINESSO

Leading independent media agency, Avenue C, is thrilled to announce the appointment of Paula Lopes as Digital Director. Paula, a seasoned professional with over 17 years experience in the media industry, joins Avenue C from her role as Chief Operations Manager of KINESSO (merger of Reprise, Matterkind, and Kinesso specialities).

oOh!Media Fuses People & Performance At National Annual Revenue & Growth Conference
  • Advertising

oOh!Media Fuses People & Performance At National Annual Revenue & Growth Conference

oOh!media brought together more than 260 of its sales, operations, commercial, marketing, finance and leadership teams last week for its national annual revenue and growth conference. Held over two days at the picturesque Rydges Resort in Hunter Valley, the event ‘Fusing people and performance’ focussed on how to build a high-performance mindset and how it […]