Legacy of Leadership: Relational Leadership
Tony Gabriel
GABRTEACH/ GABR-BEHAVE- GABRWORKS- Educator/ Presenter/Writer/Professional Development/ Workforce Development/
The tasks for true leaders are challenging and highly complex. Challenging, in the sense that true leaders must often accept the responsibility of leading others whether they are prepared to or not, and highly complex, in the realization that timing, psychological awareness, emotional intelligence, experience, and the level of one's skill sets and abilities often determine your effectiveness and longevity as a true leader.
This fact is the cornerstone of the billion-dollar leadership development and practices industry that consumes U.S. and World market spaces. From Books, to Videos, Podcasts, Social Media, Workshops, Conferences, Professional development sessions, TED Talks, News articles, The Internet, or any other resource I may have left out, one is exposed to just about every idea, practice, thought, and investigation of what good, great, or effective leadership should or should not be.
If you could pick only one leadership talent, characteristic, style, theory or skill set to live by, what would it be and why?
In many of my previous newsletters and articles, I've tried to frame leadership from a perspective that you may or may not agree with, but I hope generates a serious contemplation of your own thoughts on this matter: (See the following links)
Whether one adheres to a particular style, trait, or theory of leadership, I think we all can agree that true leadership or leadership development does not happen in a silo or in isolation. It is usually a result of planned and unplanned efforts, trial and error, luck, or God's divine intervention to impact or affect an outcome buoyed or reinforced by the combined efforts of others to help one, the organization, the business, or group succeed. And thus, we have one of the roots of all successful and unsuccessful leadership efforts, namely, Relationship Building and Development.
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Relational Leadership
What is Relational Leadership? From a workforce perspective, "Relational leadership" simply means that a leader or leadership team intentionally seeks to establish positive connections and relationships with those they direct, manage, supervise, or have authority over. In general, relational leadership is used by most leaders to get their followers, clients, customers, staff, or stakeholders to buy-in, perform, or act.
True leaders use empathy, a high moral compass, and emotional intelligence to connect and build relationships with those they want to positively influence. However, one must be cautious and guarded against fraudulent leaders or those in authority who use their relationship building attempts to get their way by manipulating, deceiving, and controlling others.
Authenticity in one's efforts to connect and build relationships with others is key. I am reminded of an incident with one of my former supervisors. He would always go out of his way to say good morning and ask how my day was going. However, I happened to see him at a restaurant one evening and tried to say hello. He looked at me strangely, and acted as if he didn't know who I was.
Just as in any relationship, there will be good and bad, but the true leaders that have the most success in relational leadership understand that it's not something to use only at the office, in certain company, or turn on and off when it's convenient, but it's an honest part of one's life philosophy others can easily see and believe on a daily basis.
When I speak of a "Legacy of Leadership" I am speaking to those skill sets, action steps, and philosophies around true leadership that stand the test of time in a company, organization, group or school that remain its foundation regardless of who is in a position of leadership. Honest and true Relational leadership is critical to building a successful legacy of leading.
"Relational skills are the most important abilities in Leadership"
John C. Maxwell
If you enjoyed this article, would like to discuss further, or collaborate please contact me at gabrteach3831@gmail.com
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Architectural Designer & Sustainability Consultant. ✨Terrarama✨
1wI would pick a strong intuition because in a world of modern business discernment is probably one of the top talents especially for people who may seem like they dont fit in with the crowd, The crowd needs to be studied with intuitive abilities not with surface level reasoning.