Happy New Year fellow leaders! This week, I found myself staring at the greeting card section of HyVee on more than one occasion. In sharing this with a friend, I jokingly characterized leadership as being mostly about remembering people’s birthdays. While you and I know that leadership is much more than this, there is some truth to doing the “little things” that build trust and community on your team.
The greeting card aisle got me thinking about other leadership practices that focus on the people side of leadership (which is the biggest side, by the way). Here are my top three that I’ve gathered, learned, or developed during the time I’ve had the privilege to lead teams and people.
- Emails aren’t for bad news. If difficult news is to be shared, it should be done in person or at the least, over the phone. Never send bad news, disappointment, or frustration in an email. Emails will be saved and remembered by your teammates long after whatever issue it pertained to is resolved. Recently, I was made aware of a mistake I made that left a team out of a communication. I could have sent an email to the group apologizing and checked it off my list. Instead, I decided to walk over to the team, sit down with them, and share my apology. The result was a heartfelt dialogue and an opportunity to connect with them. I’m grateful for their candor and willingness to accept my mistake with grace.
- Eat together. Some of my favorite memories with teams I’ve been on over the years have been over a meal, whether it’s a restaurant, my own home, or takeout huddled around a meeting room table. Not only have I been able to get to know people better, but it’s also an easy team building strategy for the whole team to relax with one another.
- Send cards. As someone who loves getting mail, I strive to send it, too. Our CEO sends a birthday card with a handwritten note to every team member – that’s 275/year! And the impact is felt –team members often respond with thankfulness and share a bit about what’s going on in their lives. Other ways to send cards include their work anniversaries, major milestones, new babies, weddings –you name it. Find ways to acknowledge the meaningful milestones in your team’s life.
What would you add to this list?
As we get into the groove of 2023, I’m committed to finding new and different ways to continue to guide, coach, and lead. I look forward to my second full year in this role, and I hope to share my foibles, lessons learned, and maybe some successes along the way.
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