By Ken Blanchard and Scott Blanchard, Fast Times
A major telecommunications company once commissioned some research to find out which attributes best predicted long-term leadership success. Why did some leaders succeed while others never really lived up to expectations? After examining a variety of factors–including tenacity, intelligence, work ethic, ingenuity–they discovered that the ability to build and leverage a network of relationships was the best predictor of success.
Building collaborative work relationships is a challenge for many people. Relationship building is generally not taught in schools and it’s rarely taught to those who join the managerial ranks. There is a big problem with that.
Today’s work challenges require the best efforts of a group of committed people who are working toward a common goal. While one person working alone can have an impact, your role as a leader is to guide your team to accomplish bigger goals than they could achieve on their own.
Many people are tapped for leadership positions because of their strong individual skills and knowledge. Yet their past experience of being “the smartest person in the room” can often keep them from developing the ability to draw out the best from others.
Building stronger work relationships
Making the transition from individual contributor to group leader begins with helping others achieve their goals so that your agreed-upon vision can come alive.
The key is to shift from thinking only about yourself and what you want to accomplish to thinking about the people you are leading. What are they trying to accomplish? What are their key responsibility areas and how can you help them? Assuming that their tasks and goals are in alignment with overall organizational objectives, by helping them get their work done, you are assuring that organizational goals will be attained.
Some common mistakes
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