CHICAGO–Looking to build better relationships with your team? Consider these two strategies, suggests executive coach Anne Sugar.
Writing on Inc.com, Sugar observed a keen focus is essential to getting work accomplished, but sometimes focus can preclude a manager from noticing important interpersonal dynamics.
“You may have been pushing results at the expense of building relationships with team members,” wrote Sugar. “With this in mind, I have coached many leaders to take time to connect with team members. It may feel like a waste of time to them because it's not directly driving results, but it results in great long-term value because team members are more engaged and motivated.
Sugar offered these two approaches:
Leverage LinkedIn
“Many leaders tell me that they feel extremely frustrated because there is just too much work to get done and also worry about relationship building,” wrote Sugar. “But, in fact, I have found that for many leaders as they grow or start new initiatives, it is even more crucial to take the time during the week to build relationships. When we discuss this strategy, managers tell me that they have such a distaste for networking. I don't believe that this is networking in the traditional sense of going to a conference or other means-- it is just adding new ways to learn and also meeting interesting individuals that can help your team.”
Sugar said a simple technique that a time-starved CMO used was to leverage LinkedIn to help him reach out to reconnect with other industry leaders and former colleagues.
“He couldn't meet every week with someone for coffee so this was a small activity that he could comfortably commit to each week,” Sugar related. “Small activities that he committed to were sending personal notes and posting updates. As a result, he was able to hear about new and interesting marketing opportunities as well as what was going on in the industry to help him with his own teams' issues.”
Hold brief 1:1 meetings.
Sugar said one might assume if they don't hear from their teams that all their initiatives are running smoothly.
“But rarely is this the case-- and in fact there are many times that you can have very disenfranchised team member sitting in the background,” said Sugar. “On the other hand, you can also miss out on great side conversations that might ultimately help the team. To alleviate this issue, I coach leaders to use the simple strategy of reaching out to the team more during the week.”
What that doesn’t mean, said Sugar, is setting up hour-long meetings with everyone each week. Instead, she said a 30 or 15 minute meeting will do in many cases.
Remember This
“But remember that this meeting should not be just a status update. Use this meeting for a more meaningful discussion on goals or how they might refocus their efforts on projects. One CTO that I worked with leveraged this strategy and learned that he was able to motivate his teams even more during the difficult times. In addition, he found that he could be more transparent with his issues because he was building deeper relationships with the team.”
Sugar added that while it is important to prioritize and focus on key initiatives, there are many times when it can hurt you along the way-- especially when it comes to building relationships and listening to one’s teams.
“With these strategies, you can use small pockets of time to connect more deeply with your employees,” she said.