Some leaders think that connecting with people is
something that needs to happen only when he or she is
communicating to groups of people. For instance, at
staff meetings. But we need to connect with people way
before that.
For instance, lets say that at your
company they hold a semiannual or annual rah, rah, rah
meeting saying this is what happened last year and these
are the things we have to do meet next years
goals. The problem is, no one really knows the
person that is standing up there talking and he
certainly doesn’t know us. But some how he stands up
there and expects us to trust him and to instantly get
on board.
If we think about this logically, this
is an example of the simple but difficult paradigm.
Because doesn’t it just make sense that you could get
more out of your staff if you’ve actually taken the time
to get to know them and show them that you genuinely
care about them? It just makes sense and yet most of us
don’t take the time to do it.
Zig Ziglar says that “you can
everything in life you want if you will just help enough
other people get what they want.” And the only way
to know what they want is to take the time to get to
know them. I mean lets face it,
everyone wants to know “what is in it for me”? People don’t care how much you know
until they know how much you care. You might think that
sounds corny. But it is true. You develop credibility
with people when you connect with them and show them
that you genuinely want to help them.
I heard a story once,
some of you may have heard it. It’s about a
would-be young doctor who was in medical school. One of
his professors gave them a pop quiz and it was 20
questions. The student finished the first 19 questions
very easily and felt very proud. The 20th
question was what is the name of the person who sweeps
the halls of this building? He was astounded. Surely
this had nothing to do with him being able to be a
doctor. And he was a little insulted too and so he took his
paper up to the professor and said surely this doesn’t
count. And that professor taught a valuable lesson.
He said, “Yes, it does
count. In life you need to pay attention to people.
Everyone you come in contact with is important.
Regardless of whether they can advance you in your
career or not they are important. By you paying
attention to them, you validate them as a person. As a
physician this will be a very important thing for you to
know. Don’t ignore anyone. A simple hello makes a
difference to people.”
After that conversation
this would be young doctor went out of his way to talk
to the cleaning lady, Dorothy, and they developed a
certain sort of friendship because he went out of his
way to greet and pay attention to that person and he was
a better person for it. Also and more
importantly, I’m certain that it made Dorothy’s day each
and every time this would be doctor remembered her name
and took time out of his busy day to talk to her.
Get to know everyone in your organization
that you see on a regular basis - everyone from the CEO,
down to the cleaning lady and everyone in between. I submit to you that
there is someone in your organization, in your building
today that needs to be made to feel important. And you
can do it by paying attention to them, by connecting
with them with your heart.
Real leaders know the
greatest potential for growth of a company is through
growth of its people. In actual studies of
leadership in American business:
PMETH Principles
