We Are All Human!

Business, at its core, is about people and the connections we make in order to achieve a goal.

But in the age of working from home and Zoom meetings, it is easy to forget that there are actual people behind LinkedIn profiles and online meetings.

And this isn’t a new problem.

As work moves more and more online, the less human it can feel.

But if interaction is the key to any successful business, it doesn’t matter who you are or what you do, if you aren’t engaging with your team or your customers in the right way, you will stunt the growth of your business.

Unfortunately, often people, in an attempt to be professional, sacrifice humanity and personality.

If we remove the human side of ourselves in order to be “professional” then we can end up treating people like robots or even like aliens. In effect, alienating them.

The issue with this is that, of course, we are human. So why do we deny ourselves that fact. What is really more important is to be authentically you. And since trying to be something we are not, is just an act, people can see straight through it, however good you may think it is!

So, what can we do?

A very simple example is that there is a big difference in how people will feel if you show genuine interested in your team (even just ask how someone’s weekend was before asking them to do a task).

Some viewpoints are that this is unnecessary and intrusive.

But, if you don’t take an interest, and your team feel like they’re just seen as cogs in a machine and not people, you will have problems.

Namely, people eventually won’t trust you, won’t like you, won’t care about what you say and, ultimately, this means they won’t work!

And for a business, a team that doesn’t want to work is game over!

So, feel free to build up a rapport, put a face to a company. This will benefit your customer success too. People are far more likely to engage with you and buy from you if they feel seen, rather than just as an income stream for you.

However, you have to be a little careful because if you get too personal, the issues will appear again.

You’ve got to find the sweet spot!

If you go too far, too personal, you run the risk of losing professional balance.

And this came to mind because of the following example.

Recently, I received a message from someone on LinkedIn saying that they were a fan of what I have been putting out on there. So far so good, right?

That is until they followed this up with some more personal compliments and a request to meet me, asking whether I thought my husband would mind!

Now that, to me, doesn’t sound as professional a message as you would expect form LinkedIn. And I was sure to tell them this in my reply addressing their antiquated and, just rather unnecessary, message!

Now, this is a more extreme example, I know, but it speaks to my wider point that I want to get across in this – the balance of our human needs and interest within business.

Perhaps we can think of it like “treat others as you want to be treated” advice. It might sound very simplistic, but the basic principles still apply in business.

It doesn’t matter, who, what or where you are, we are all deserving of the same respect and connection.

So understanding people and building relevant connection leads to more trust and therefore collaboration, and therefore more productivity and happier people. 

If you want to see any growth in your business, we have to get that balance right.

Simple, no?

Well, it isn’t always that easy to work out what people need or want, or how they prefer to work, communicate or participate. So, if you are having any issues connecting with your team, or anyone else for that matter, feel free to email me at julie@thinkbedoleadership.com and we can have a chat!

P.S. Whenever you are ready...here are 4 ways I can help you increase your impact as a leader: 

1. Join The "Quiet Leaders With Impact™ Facebook Group and connect with other leaders who want to grow 

It's our new Facebook community where those that are The Quiet Leaders can learn and share how to increase their impact, influence and outcomes -- Click here 

2. Grab a free copy of my leadership impact report: The Team Performance Engine™ 

It’s the Road Map to your journey to increasing your impact as a leader -Click here 

3. Join our Quiet Leaders Launchpad™ Mastermind Group Programme 

This Mastermind is a selected group of like-minded leaders, in an online community, focused on growing your results. With training, group coaching calls, guest speakers and more, supporting and challenging you to design and implement real team performance in your business. 

Email me with “IMPLEMENT” in the subject line and we can discuss how you can join us 

4. Work with me and my team privately 

If you or your team just need a little more one to one attention to make change happen in your business... just reply to this message and put “PRIVATE” in the subject line... tell me a little about your business and what you’d like to work on together, and I’ll get you all the details!