Business
I often say leadership is about influencing others. And if you don’t care about other people, you won’t be able to influence them. Therefore, much of leadership is caring about people. On many occasions, my comment solicits the question, “but how do I care about others when I don’t want to?”Leaders are not born, they are developed. So having the leadership character to care about others is a skill that can be developed. With a few simple steps, you can develop a care for others that allows you to lead well.Now it’s important to know that I’m not talking about being best buds with everyone. Caring for others doesn’t mean you’re tailgating with them every weekend or spending your family vacations together. Caring for others is simply having a concern for their general wellbeing.Let’s examine these simple steps to developing care for others when just don’t want to.Self-careCaring for others first requires that you care for yourself. So many leaders neglect to care for themselves. It’s common practice for a leader to devote all their energy to leadership tasks or responsibilities without sparing a single minute for themselves.Self-care is any activity that creates a healthy and whole physical, mental, and emotional state. Exercise is a great example of self-care. Taking the time to keep your physical body in good shape equips you to give the best of you to others. Meditation, reading, or affirmation exercises are other great examples of self-care.Take the time to care for yourself. Without self-care, you can’t care for others.Feelings Follow ActionIt doesn’t work the other way around. We all tend to get confused about how our emotions (or feelings) work. Having general concern for another person doesn’t just happen. Sure, some of us are born with an innate spirit of concern for others. But even for those gifted with this spirit, an understanding or certain knowledge of the other person must be established.Your desire to care for others will only follow your intentional actions to get to know them better. It’s the way every relationship works. Even marriage relationships start with some intentional dating actions. The emotions and feelings of infatuation follow the action.Be intentional to get to know others on a more personal level. Without this intentionality, you will never want to care about others.Be CuriousOr if you aren’t naturally curious, be intentional about asking questions. The best want to get to know others is by asking questions about them. Everyone generally enjoys talking about themselves or those important to them.Ask those you lead about their family. Get to know the names of their spouse and children. Don’t worry about HR, this isn’t an interview. You can ask a few personal questions. Your team will be appreciative of the fact you care enough to ask about something other than work.Do it. Stop by the desk of a team member and say, “hey, I’m sorry all I do is talk about work. Tell me a little about your family.”Keep It SimpleI’m not going to call you stupid. Doing so would put us all in the same category. Just don’t overthink the idea of caring for others. It’s really not complicated at all.When you take action and ask questions of others, just keep asking yourself “how would I want to be treated?” Leaders avoid caring for others because they feel it’s impossible to force empathy or express sincerity when neither are present beforehand. By treating others the way you would want to be treated, you ensure your actions and words convey the genuineness necessary to build closer relationships.Closer relationships remove all hinderances to caring for others. You can do this. Now go care about your people.Closing QuestionsDo these steps help you care for others? Do you think it’s even possible to care about someone you don’t really like? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below. For other great leadership development, career advancement, and personal growth content check out our website - https://credibleleaders.com/ Also, you can watch this podcast episode and many others on our YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfkDVxJUOuDI1oP4dwWAe2w