How much do you truly care?

The willingness and ability to care is a hallmark of an excellent leader. Leaders who genuinely care are fantastic to work with, getting the best from the people and resources under their stewardship.

Here are our top three ways to express care:  

1.   There is wisdom in the adage, “more haste, less speed”. I’m all for efficiency, but not to the point where quality is over-compromised. Too much haste will ruin the quality of our services and products, lose customers and devalue our organisations. 

I’m worried we’re in danger of sacrificing the very thing we exist for - meeting our customer’s needs - in the pursuit of saving or making money. Rushing around attempting to juggle too many responsibilities will negatively affect our ability to think and we’ll sabotage our success.  

The best leaders create a culture that values quality and efficiency, holding both in tension together. Practically, we observe: 

• frequent, brief, team check ins on product/service standards. 

• a desire for critical feedback throughout the company. We can’t improve if we don’t see what’s not working well. 

• checklists. It’s amazing what we forget without a prompt, especially when under pressure. 

• shared responsibility. When someone spots a problem brewing in another person’s area, they raise it.

2.  Give time and proper attention to the relationships that matter the most. It’s only through our deeper, human connections that we will achieve anything truly lasting. We need each other. Different experiences, perspectives and skills when harnessed will contribute to something amazing.

Without a strength of relationships, our ability to create, imagine and build on ideas is severely limited. Healthy, enjoyable and rewarding relationships are marked by mutual trust and genuine care for each other. This cannot be achieved quickly. The best relationships require nurture, care and attention.

Who do you need to spend more quality time with? What’s stopping you?

3.  Think before speaking. Many leaders are experts in processing their first thoughts out loud. They might retract and refine their statements later, but the damage is done.  This lack of care is ruinous for trust, which is an essential quality of any high-performing team.

There may be understandable reasons for this behaviour but for anyone in a leading role, these are not excuses for carelessness. Excellent leaders experience the same pressures and yet manage their energy. Some take themselves away for a few moments, others literally take a deep breath before responding, all hold their tongues - literal or typed - before reacting. In our work, we encourage our clients to prepare their energy for an upcoming pressure point with as much focus as they give to preparing their data and recommendations.

Our organisations and people deserve to be nurtured. How will you take even better care of the people and resources that have been entrusted to you?