Walk Into the Future

Category: Team building

Articles to enhance team building.

  • Relational Transparency – Take your leadership to the next level

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    “The lack of transparency results in distrust and a deep sense of insecurity”.

    (Dalai Lama)

    The concept of transparency within the work environment continues to grow.  Leaders who display relational transparency show they are willing to share information and understand direct reports, peers and supervisors want to be involved.

    The quote above provides outcomes when transparency is absent from the relational process.

    Relational transparency is an authentic leadership variable that highlights leaders should understand the impact their daily interactions can have (positive or negative) within the work environment.  Relational transparency involves the leader presenting their authentic self, which helps develop trust by sharing true thoughts and feelings and displaying appropriate emotions.  Trust develops as the leader shares information openly with all levels within the organization.  Consistency with words, thoughts and actions are staples of relational transparency.

    How can Relational Transparency improve work outcomes?

    • Creates a nurturing environment
    • Shows direct reports they are valued and appreciated
    • Helps build meaningful and transparent relationships
    • Enhances overall organizational functions
    • Should be applied to both sides of a work relationship

    Relational transparency can be leveraged to improve working relationships on multiple levels of an organization.  This process can be used when working with staff members from other departments or organizations.  Building trust when working on committees across the organization will only enhance the ability of the team to meet stated goals.  A transparent leader’s authenticity can be viewed easily throughout the organization because nothing is being hidden in daily interactions with others.

    Leaders must be willing and able to balance multiple relationship levels:  direct reports, peer to peer and supervisors.  Relational transparency provides leaders with an impactful way to build productive working relationships and enhance the overall functioning of the work environment.

    How do you display relational transparency in your work environment?  How would this authentic leadership variable enhance daily interactions?

     

     

  • The Humble Leader

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    Photo by Prateek Katyal on Pexels.com

    The concept of the humble leader sounds contradictory to what most people envision in the workplace.  The traditional leadership view (real or perceived) cast leaders as hard charging, take no prisoner and only out for themselves.

    Humility: the quality or condition of being humble; modest opinion or estimate of one’s importance, rank, etc. (Dictionary.com)

    A true leader understands you lead people and manage programs.  Not the other way around.

    A humble leader displays a level of self-awareness within the workplace to ensure growth for everyone.  A humble leader does not seek or need the spotlight to highlight the great work of the team.  The humble leader can inspire better team cohesion, eagerness to learn and a better performance outcome for their teams.

    The process of leading by example and a leader with a humble approach when working with individuals and teams is an excellent example of this concept.  This consistent approach provides a template for others to follow and allows the team to perform knowing the true nature of their leader.

    Humble leaders:

    • Build relationships
    • Listen
    • Enable trust in the workplace
    • Show appreciation
    • Reflect
    • Display authenticity

    A humble leader puts the needs of others before themselves.  This could be a simple process of ensuring direct reports have the tools needed to perform their duties.  Sounds simple but how many times are work assignments delegated with deadlines, but instructions/tools needed to perform are not provided.  The humble leader looks to provide tools needed to ensure overall team success.  They are also not afraid to ask questions to ensure the assignment is fully understood.  Asking follow-up questions does not show weakness but shows the leader cares and wants to optimize time spent on a specific project.

    Being a humble leader does not imply weakness.  Humble leaders are always looking to improve themselves and focus on larger, organizational goals—not just their individual goals.

    A leader is best when people hardly know that they exist. (Lao Tzu)

    What impact does humility have within your current work environment?  How would this concept enhance overall productivity in the work environment?