Our Internal Relationships Are Vitally Important

True success is not about how much money we make, it’s about our relationships, our helping others succeed.                                  

I am blessed to hear wonderful sermons at my local parish church. While the messages are about our values and how we lead our lives, I often feel that they speak to those of us who are leaders in business, as well.

After all, being a great leader is founded on our character, our values.

Yesterday, our priest asked that we pray for the wisdom and humility of the leaders of all nations. My immediate thought was, yes, that is certainly a worthy aim for our prayers.

And then, because of my interest in business leadership, I took out my pad and pen – yes, while still in church – and jotted down a few notes, because this message is absolutely pertinent to business leaders: wisdom and humility are extremely important.

To me, wisdom is the understanding that the essence of leadership is how we help others feel about themselves. It is the way we help build inner-confidence and the courage to do great work, to be successful, to come out from behind oneself.

And to me, humility is recognizing that success in business leadership depends on the quality of our relationships. When we really want our team members and others to succeed, when we make the time to be in conversation with them, letting them know we truly care about them, we are demonstrating humility.  It is not about us, it is about helping others. Leadership means giving others our insight, encouragement and helpful feedback. It is mentoring and coaching them, and then trusting them to be the very best they can be.

One person I greatly admire recently told me she feels she only deserves an A as a leader if everyone on her team earns an A.  Thank you, Sue Mahanor! You exemplify servant leadership.

In addition to humility, to be a great leader we must also assure that each team member knows our expectations and goals for them. We must give them clarity.  Clarity is strength. With clear expectations and our support and trust, our team members will strive to do great work, to meet our expectations and their goals.

Finally, to be a great leader one must be kind. I cannot emphasize this enough. A kind word, a note of thanks, a short conversation will go a long way toward engaging our team members and building an energetic, can-do culture.

To illustrate the value of our internal relationships, and to help us fulfill our responsibilities as leaders, I have prepared this visual. I hope this is helpful.

As always, I value your feedback. Please let me know how your internal relationships are faring, and how I can help.