The top 1% of anything is pretty impressive. To be ranked in that rarefied air means one has invested and IS investing time, energy, and passion into that avenue.
If you were ill, wouldn’t you want to be treated by the best of the best doctors? If you were putting together a professional sports team, wouldn’t you want as many of the best of the best players on your roster, with the skills needed and with impeccable character?
Let’s take a look at a real, live example. Tamara McCleary is ranked in the top 1% of social media influencers by multiple sources. Tamara is a speaker, author, and business expert.
It’s not her expertise as a thought leader, speaker, or author that makes her such an effective social media player. It is her dedication to creating and maintaining relationships, online and in real life, every day, that boosts her influence.
Her recent post on social currency outlines her life philosophy. Tamara believes that “engagement is key.” She builds real relationships with her followers and who she follows. She monitors reliable data to track how well she is engaging every day with her online community.
She invests the time, energy, and passion because she legitimately cares about others. Members of her online and offline communities matter to her, deeply. She’s constantly checking to see whether her plans, decisions, and actions build relationships effectively NOW – and she refines those actions if they don’t.
Let’s apply Tamara’s practices – and positive results – to influencing others in the workplace.
I post the proven practices of #GreatBosses daily on my social media platforms. These quotes generate frequent shares as well as frequent comments. And, a number of those comments are not complimentary of respondent’s current bosses!
People boldly state “My boss doesn’t do this – I wish he did!” and “I’ve never had a boss that did this! I don’t believe #GreatBosses actually exist!”
Leaders can increase their positive influence, improve relationships, and boost employee engagement, service, and results if they embrace some of Tamara’s practices.
First, invest the time. Pay attention to more than just results. Connect with people at all levels in your organization every day. Learn their names and their passions. Learn what gets in their way of cooperative teamwork and top performance. Act to reduce those frustrations.
Second, get the data. Don’t just monitor performance metrics – monitor data that indicates how happy employees are working in your organization. You have some reliable data, like turnover, exit interviews, service levels, and more. You may need to measure other satisfaction metrics, like the degree of trust, frequency of proactive problem solving, etc.
Third, evaluate progress of employee engagement, service, and results. As you embrace proactive relationship management, pay close attention to the “big three” – engagement, service, and results. If you’re not seeing upticks in these after four weeks, do what Tamara does. Refine your practices, then monitor the positive impact. Keep those practices that help.
How great are your bosses today? Which of these practices will you embrace to increase the quality of relationships and employee engagement? Share your comments and insights on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google +.
How healthy is your team or company’s culture? Don’t guess – get the data with my online Culture Effectiveness Assessment.
Want hands-on guidance for building an engaging, inspiring workplace? Join me in Denver for my Culture Leadership Roundtable. This series, based on my book, The Culture Engine, meets one-morning-a-month starting in March.
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