If you’re a leader, and you’re lonely, you’re most certainly doing something wrong, says a top business expert.
If you’re a leader, and you’re lonely, you’re most certainly doing something wrong, says a top business expert.
US-based sales and marketing executive and public speaker Steve Keating says the whole notion that it's “lonely at the top” is a lie.
“You should absolutely not be lonely, you should be the most sought out person in your organization. Maybe not the most popular, because authentic leadership is anything but a popularity contest, but your people should be seeking you out regularly with questions and ideas,” says Keating.
Being an effective leader means taking time out to build relationships with your team, he says, getting to know them as people and not just as employees.
“That relationship doesn’t have to extend outside of the work environment, but it does need to be robust enough for them to know, without a doubt, that they are valued for what they do and who they are.”
Employees value the relationships with their managers as much as they value recognitions, promotions and even pay, says Keating, and true leaders intentionally schedule regular, daily conversations with the people they lead.
“A leader’s relationship with their people needs to be ‘real’. As a leader, you need to know something about the people you lead. You can’t lead someone effectively until you know something about them.”
But how do busy business owners, executives and managers, who barely have time to answer their emails, fit this “relationship building” into their schedules?
“If you don’t have the time to build real relationships with your people then maybe, just maybe, you don’t have time to lead,” says Keating.
