Leading from the Heart
I wrote about visionary leadership style in a previous blog - the ability of leaders to inspire organizations for a common goal. There’s another type of leadership that is equally inspiring - leadership that touches people personally, impacts individual growth and maximizes human potential in remarkable ways. These leaders can have profoundly positive impact on budding careers and bring out the best in those more advanced in their career journey. Often not instructed or measured on it, these leaders are self-driven to share, guide and nurture talent. Isn’t it amazing how individuals can be committed to growing talent in others and are devoted to helping others shine? This is my definition of leading from the heart.
These leaders do 3 things well:
Giving feedback: Timely and meaningful feedback is the most important part of coaching a team to achieve their highest impact. Yet, this is one of most overlooked skill in leaders. True leaders don’t hesitate to share areas of improvement, along with ideas on how to make changes. The most effective are the ones that can provide feedback tactfully. Being direct is admirable but if you’re constantly pointing out shortfalls of an employee without also letting them know what they’re doing well or without offering ideas for advancement, you’re merely creating fear. On the other hand, if you’re glossing over areas of weakness, you definitely are not helping that individual grow. I’ve couple of observations on leaders who do this well - They always start with strengths before discussing areas of improvement. Second, they provide feedback on both big and small topics. In other words, don’t hesitate to point out what might seem insignificant. Very early in my career, I met my manager over breakfast. I had just moved to a new city to join his team. He checked-in with me to make sure I was settling in well and gave me the rundown of customers I’d be responsible for. We concluded the meeting with him noting that I should always have a notebook and pen at every professional meeting. This might seem trivial but if I didn’t get that direct feedback, I really would have never known.
Instilling confidence: Good leaders make individuals believe in themselves and put them in positions to achieve more than what they themselves thought they were capable of. We all go through confidence highs and lows. True leaders recognize when they need to be an individuals cheerleader and instill confidence in them. At a particularly challenging time in my career, I once declared to my skip-level manager that I needed to look at other career paths. He saw I was under tremendous pressure to know as much as senior colleagues with three times my experience did. He advised me to focus on a few subjects that I absolutely needed to master, and were most relevant for my customers. He not only instilled the confidence in me to keep going but taught me an important lesson to master, which is to give all my attention to what I really need to know at any given time - one step at a time, one foot in front of the other.
How a leader shows up for their team when things aren’t going well or when there is a misstep is critical. These moments can be pivotable teachable moments to demonstrate empathy and help the team course correct. The key is to not create fear and instead rally together to take corrective measures. Once a brilliant leader shared with me, that when someone makes a mistake treat them the way you would want to be treated if you were in their shoes - with complete empathy and no fear. With such support, teams and individuals come out more confident, committed and wiser on the other side of the crisis.
Caring: Having your team’s best interest in your heart and caring for their individual well being can be hard on top of all the other demands on a leaders’ time and business commitments. Leaders who make employee experience a priority garner more respect and build motivated teams. When a leaders cares, team members have clarity on expectations and accountability. The team works like a pro sports team where each player knows their position, each team member can rely on each other to bring their best to the field and bring their singular focus on doing their most impactful work in service of customers and partners. Once the culture of caring is in place, revenue goals, targets etc also start magically heading in the right direction. This is also more sustainable rather than anxiety driven activities that are often disguised as productivity and don’t produce long terms results. The other way caring can show up is when leaders open doors and make connections for their team members. They connect individuals with other leaders who might be a good fit to give guidance on a specific topic based on their experiences. I read this quote recently which articulates this well - leaders who care say your name in a room full of opportunities.
I’m grateful for so many fantastic leaders who have taught me these leadership principles by their actions. I try and practice these and pay it forward - not perfectly but I try, I ask myself what can I do to make a difference in someone else’s career journey. Your time and advice is the best gift you can give someone and that is truly leading from the heart.
