Skip to main content

Technology in leadership

Is technology undermining your leadership?  Do you use it so much that you've lost the personal touch?  Can you really have a personal relationship with someone only over the internet?  Are you certain that wonderful, sensitive soul you've connected with online isn't doing 20 to life in the penitentiary?  But, I digress...
At some point, you have to talk and touch and feel people.  Do you know what motivates the people you lead?  My children are very different.  When they were little, and being naughty, I could stop the oldest in her tracks with a stern look.  The youngest, however... if she set her mind to something, there was no stopping her.  Why do I mention this?  Because they are motivated differently.  The oldest is a people pleaser, the youngest, not so much.  This is information that could never be learned in an e-mail.  This is also true with those around you.  It's nearly impossible to learn someone's motivation if you don't have a personal relationship with them.  I'm not saying that you need to be their new best friend, but you need to connect with them on some personal level.  It may be cliche, but the old adage "they don't care what you know until they know that you care" rings true when you are in any type of leadership role.  Those that you lead need to know that you care for their success, not just your own.  When was the last time you personally connected with those you lead?  Has it been a while?  It's time to step away from your computer and pick up the phone.  Just be sure to introduce yourself - they may not recognize your voice.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

People test

"If you do not pass the people test, nothing else matters. Promotion without connectivity is destructive. I often share with church leaders that most of the churches in the United States should not promote themselves. Why? Simple. If your current membership is not actively inviting people or visitors are not staying, there are reasons why. If you do an advertising campaign, you are asking people to come in your doors only to realize why no one wants to invite anyone to your church. They never come back and leave to tell all their friends what they did not like about your church. This is not good marketing. The heart of marketing is people. Don’t start with mailers. Start with people. Ask yourself, “What am I doing this week to learn how to reach people more effectively? It's time to evaluate. Are we creating an atmosphere that fosters growth or are we ministering unto ourselves?" http://www.beyondrelevance.com/index.cfm/PageID/913/blog_year/2010/blog_month/2/index.html...

Clean House

While flipping through some late night television, I came across "Clean House: Search for the Messiest House in the Country 4".  Now, without getting into a rant about how people could let their house get so full of "stuff" (let alone letting it be broadcast to the world), I want to touch on one of their underlying issues.  The dad traveled a lot with his job, and every time he came back, he brought his family gifts to show them that he loved them and thought of them often when he was away.  These gifts were contributing to a huge clutter problem and many gifts had never even been opened.  The family was disconnected, because the wife and children really just wanted to spend time with the dad, who had to keep working more to buy more gifts... do you see the problem? This whole situation took me back to a book I read many years ago, "The 5 Love Languages" by Dr. Gary Chapman.  According to Chapman, the 5 are: Acts of Service, Words of Affirmation, Quality ...

Volunteers

I've heard many in leadership lamenting about the lack of volunteers.  If you lead a church or other non-profit, or are in direct sales, you lead an army of volunteers.  Sometimes, your volunteers will not hit you over the head with their willingness to serve.  Sometimes, they will.  Are you ready to mentor them in their volunteer position so that they will be successful?  Do you follow through with them while enthusiasm is high?  I think we all believe we do. About two years ago, I volunteered with a non-profit in the Quad Cities area.  It took several weeks just to be able to get through to the correct person to volunteer my services with.  I was invited to attend an open meeting, where I spoke of the service that I was willing to provide.  Although there was much agreement that my service would be a great addition to the service they were providing, and several follow up calls on my part, I never was given the opportunity to volunteer. A...