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Why good leaders make you feel safe

Leadership

Why good leaders make you feel safe

Leadership is a subject we often dive into, perhaps because it is such a profound and controversial topic, but also because it is so often misunderstood.

Referring back to my previous article on how leadership is changing, it’s important for us to take the time to look deeper into what changes still need to be made, how we can make those changes happen, and perhaps more importantly, why we should adapt.

And it’s not just leadership, business as a whole is changing, including people’s values and beliefs within business, too. That’s why it’s so crucial to stay attune to the emotional needs of your employees and to ask the question, are your leaders fulfilling those needs?

Businesses typically have many leaders of many different forms, from President’s & CEO’s to Supervisors and natural leaders within a team. The question we should be asking is, are these leaders moving the business forward, or holding it back unwittingly.

For the most part, gone are the days when the authoritarian, ‘bulldozer’ leadership style works. It doesn’t. In fact, it’s been proven time and time again that a happier, more valued workforce, delivers higher productivity, lower costs and better results. If your a numbers person, that means bigger profits!

People have an innate desire for reciprocity, use it carefully.

Care for them and they’ll willingly care for your business and its mission. Trust them, and they’ll willingly trust the direction in which you lead them. Go the extra mile for them, and they will willingly go the extra mile to deliver more for you and your business. Make them feel safe and secure, and they’ll do the same for you and your business!

So why don’t most leaders do this?

This is something Simon Sinek talks about superbly in his very popular TED Talk, ‘Why good leaders make you feel safe’. During his speech, Simon delivers some inspiring insights and examples of great leadership, that make us wonder, where did leadership go so wrong and isn’t it high time for all businesses to make a change?

Check out the video here and be sure to let us know what you think afterwards!

Video Introduction: “What makes a great leader? Management theorist Simon Sinek suggests, it’s someone who makes their employees feel secure, who draws staffers into a circle of trust. But creating trust and safety — especially in an uneven economy — means taking on big responsibility.”

It’s a thought provoking presentation, isn’t it?

So how do you see leadership today, and in the future? Do you think your business or other businesses would succeed with this style of leadership in your country? Have you seen companies already making this shift in leadership style?

Let us know what you think by sharing your ideas and experiences with us here in the comments!

Feel free to share this article with your colleagues and friends via Facebook and LinkedIn, so they can also take in these intriguing and valuable message on, too.

Best,

Adam 

P.S. Did you understand everything in this article and video? If you want to expand your professional vocabulary and raise your level in Business English, check out our courses and services here!

For the definitions of the highlighted words check our Glossary. 

About the Author

Adam Baker is the co-Founder and Course Director at Trust Native. He’s an Entrepreneur, Business Coach, and Sport & Organizational Psychologist with professional experience in both Europe and South America.

About the Author

Adam Baker is the co-Founder and Course Director at Trust Native. He’s an Entrepreneur, Business Coach, and Sport & Organizational Psychologist with professional experience in both Europe and South America.

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Great Leaders are Attuned to their Employees Needs

Leadership

Great Leaders are Attuned to their Employees Needs

Are you a leader in Business? 

Would you like to be? Do you report directly to a business leader in your company?

If so, you’ll have a good idea about what great management and leadership involves, and no doubt a few ideas and experiences of some not so great leadership, too.

I often talk in depth with my clients about what high-quality leadership really entails, from different management styles, levels of emotional intelligence, and greater communication skills, to effective talent recognition and retention, inspiration, motivation and empowerment.

But when we boil it right down, Leaders have a simple role overall, to have a clear vision or strategy, and to guide their followers (employees), and inspire them to value that vision and help the company to achieve it. It sounds simple when we look at it from afar, like this.

It gets a little more complex when you start to delve a little deeper, into the ‘how’ leaders do this ‘simple’ task.

Ultimately, Leaders achieve success through effective decision making and a certain vision and clarity they have, but how effectively their employees work for them is usually down to something far simpler, yet far deeper: by knowing how to make their employees FEEL a certain way about the company or the work they are doing.

Be that a feeling of motivation, passion, excitement, connection, pride, value and importance, respect, security, variety, growth, progression, contribution, responsibility and empowerment, sometimes fear or consequence, and in really great leaders, a sense of certainty and safety.

I spoke about this in another article on leadership, where I shared a great TED talk from Simon Sinek.

Generally speaking, as employees, we want to be inspired, we want direction and certainty, and we want growth and empowerment.

As business leaders, we want commitment, passion, respect, dedication, and of course, results.

This relationship between Leader and Follower is a two-way channel, give and take, cause and effect. And it works best when that cause really resonates with the employees, their inner values, drivers, and their fantastic reciprocal nature to do something good for their leader in return.

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you SAID, people will forget what you DID, but people will never forget how you made them FEEL”

~Maya Angelou

If you’re a leader and you’re not getting the response you’d like from your employees, there’s a good chance they need to be led in a slightly different way. Before you look to change the people, look to change the way they can be led to get the results you want.

A mentor of mine and communication expert once taught me, if you’re not getting the response you want from the person you’re communicating with, then your probably sending them the wrong message or more importantly, you’re probably sending it in the wrong way.

The responsibility is always on the part of the sender, not the receiver of the message. The same applies to the leader and the led.

Now I’m interested to know your thoughts, your opinions and experiences.

As a leader in business, how do you make your employees feel? And how do you know they truly feel that way?

Do you create an environment of certainty and empowerment? Is that possible for all businesses and departments?

If you’re not a leader in business yet, can you see how your leaders could enhance their leadership style with this in mind?

Let us know what you think about this subject by sharing your ideas and experiences in the comments below!

You can also share this article with your friends and colleagues on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Best,

Adam

For the definitions of the highlighted words check our Glossary. 

 

About the Author

Adam Baker is the co-Founder and Course Director at Trust Native. He’s an Entrepreneur, Business Coach, and Sport & Organizational Psychologist with professional experience in both Europe and South America.

About the Author

Adam Baker is the co-Founder and Course Director at Trust Native. He’s an Entrepreneur, Business Coach, and Sport & Organizational Psychologist with professional experience in both Europe and South America.

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