Vicki Haddock; ACC Life and Business Coach works with businesses to transform cultures from low engagement to energized and effective.
What makes the difference between the good bosses and leaders you have experienced in your lifetime and the bad ones? Some feel like they have your best interest at heart and others make you feel like you are just another employee id number.
In my last post, I discussed how a leader can be the thermostat in his or her environment and have the ability to increase their leadership effectiveness in multiples. (Read that article here:) Today, we will take a look the #1 most important are for a leader to grasp to be effective: Heart-Centered Leadership
These are 5 areas that are key to effective leadership:
- Heart-centered Leadership
- Emotional Intelligence
- Team Building
- Hard Skills
- Financial Success Acumen
While all of these are important heart-centered leadership is the one that can make or break you as a leader.
Authentic heart-centered leaders have the best interest of the people they serve at the core of everything they do.
John Maxwell states that people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Another term for the same concept is servant leadership. Ken Blanchard believes that “servant leaders are constantly trying to find out what their people need to perform well and to live according to their organization’s vision. Rather than wanting people to please their bosses, servant leaders want to make a difference in their employees’ lives and in their organizations.”
The key is understanding that having a title does not make you a leader. Learning how to earn the trust of those who work with and for you earns you the right to lead.
Many years ago I left the financial services industry and by accident ended up in the trash business. I knew nothing about that actual business of picking up trash but I did know people.
I was the first female manager to be hired in a 10 state region. The company was running in the red, had terrible equipment, the worst safety record possible, and a high turn over. I didn’t know it at the time but if I hadn’t “accidentally” came to work at the company the site was going to be shut down.
So here I was – I knew nothing about how a garbage truck worked, where the trash went, or how to fix the truck if it broke down. I had a team that was rather skeptical that I could lead them anywhere and a lot of progress that needed to be made in a short period of time.
I intuitively knew that I had to get in the trenches with them if I was to earn their trust. I began the process to get my commercial driver’s license and began working side by side with each employee. I made sure each one felt listened too and like they were the most important person there. We began working together as a team to implement better customer service, safety practices, and take care of the equipment better.
We developed a team that had such great rapport and performance that we could almost sense what needed doing and adjust on a dime. Two years later the company was profitable, the team had achieved it’s best safety record ever and we had developed loyal customers and were enjoying newer equipment.
- A business can be financially profitable and a terrible place to work.
- It can be filled with extremely intelligent, driven, awesome employees but if they are overlooked they become resentful and leave.
- The absolute best, safest employee you have can become disgruntled and walk away if he begins to feel like just another number.
However, a leader that brings people together, believes in them, pushes them, and holds them accountable can push a team weak in all the other areas to perform exceptionally.
Everyone wants to be part of something special and heat-centered leaders can create that special environment that everyone wants to be part of. Be authentic. Care about the people behind the name tag. When you have the best interest of the people you serve at the core of every interaction you become a heart-centered leader.
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Vicki Haddock of Transcending Limits LLC is a business coach with a focus on developing new and emerging leaders and creating high-engagement cultures. Vicki uses her 20 year background in the transportation, safety and financial industry combined with her professional coach credential (ACC by the International Coach Federation) and the latest in neuroscience to help companies create excellence and stand out among their peers. You may reach her at Vicki@tslimits.com