being both strong & warm

​As a prompt question to aspiring leaders I ask for example if they know what type of wedding celebration Julie is having, or how many kids Frank has, or what really rocks Rob's boat, or where Liz is going for her holiday, or when Barry's birthday is, or what type of motorbike Ian has, or what Sue likes best about working here, or what Greg's favourite type of music is….you get the drift.
Yes, we may have 20+ people in our team but if we want to lead and not just manage we need to be genuinely interested in each one of them as a complete person, not just a unit of production.
Our team will only be fully present and give their very best when they convincingly feel us there on that heart-to-heart depth of human care and connection.
High-energy, ever-improving, safe work is a by-product of a close-knit, high-trust workplace community.
Yes, I know, it takes some of our valuable time to hang out enough to cultivate trusting relationships.
But believe me, I've seen plenty of cold, hard, disengaged workplaces with "higher priorities". And they're not pretty. And, amazingly, they wonder why the output is meagre and incidents are relentless.
P.S. You can be strong and warm, in fact, it's a necessity