The setting is at the company holiday party, you are standing by one of your peers and you notice that he’s chatting and laughing with a few of his direct reports. A thought crosses your mind, not one of your direct reports has made an attempt to chat with you and the party is almost over.
The following week you over hear that a long time manager on your staff is celebrating her 50th birthday. Most of the staff is heading out to lunch to celebrate but you were only invited as an after thought.
Why do the members of your team (peers and direct reports) tend to stay clear of having a relationship with you? If you have not cultivated the relationships within your team, it should not be a surprise when you turn around to see that you do not have a following. Without solid relationships you will never reach your full potential as a leader or garner enough influence to foster discretionary behavior within your organization. If a leader is only able to accomplish goals based on his title, he has not gained the respect of his peers or direct reports. Often, just small conversation that breaks down the barriers between the team members. Nevertheless, someone needs to take the initiative to start the process of building a rapport. You don’t need to have the title to be the initiator take the first step to display leadership in action and see how many people will follow your footsteps.
What would it take to rally your team around you?
How about your family?
Is Spike (your dog) following you?
“With the furious pace of change in business today, difficulty to manage relationships sabotages more business than anything else – it is not a question of strategy that gets us into trouble, it’s a question of emotions.” -John Kotter
