Area 3: Connection
Measuring whether you are really connecting with other people
Great leaders connect with people. They always find a way to understand the people around them and consequently communicate effectively to them. If people feel there is a disconnection between them and their leader, the leader’s influence severely diminishes. Therefore, if you want to become the best leader you can be, it is crucial that you always strive to connect with the people around you, not just your followers.
In order to assess and develop your leadership qualities, we started by asking the question: “who are you?” and followed it up with: “where are you going?” However, unless you actually have people following you, you are not leading. Therefore, the next question you have to ask, is: “who are going with you?” Leadership implies that you are leading someone and to do this, you will have to learn to connect with people.
To help you evaluate whether you are currently connecting with others and how to develop this core element of leadership, we are going to look at three specific categories:
- building good relationships with others,
- communicating effectively with them and
- extending your influence with them.