“Enhancing trust, pride, and camaraderie in the workplace is the central task of effective leadership in today’s organizations.” ~ Michael Burchell
- friendship: a feeling of close friendship and trust among a group of people
Camaraderie has always been important for leaders. Camaraderie and rapport creates interpersonal bond and a sense of unity that makes people feel part of something bigger than themselves.
Think of your own experience. Who were you more willing to follow:
- A leader who you respected, admired, and had a kinship?
- Or someone who made you feel uncomfortable?
The best leaders build rapport and camaraderie to help build loyalty for their vision. These leaders understand the importance of connections, partnerships and fulfilling the needs of the relationship economy.
4 Ways to Building Better Teams
Here are some suggestions on how leaders can build better rapport with the people around them.
Establish Common Ground with Others
When the leaders establishes common ground, they work on uniting, linking and connecting people. These connections help leaders and followers to foster authenticity through meaningful connections.
Leaders need to focus on common ground with others.
Leaders can inquire about different factors that are important to their teams. A great opportunity to connect is to find out about others’ favorite activities.
Find out what’s life experiences others feel important to them. At each of these connections, identify the shared reality that forms the unity of common ground. Try to intentionally listen for the links between your life and theirs.
Effective leaders walk in another person shoes to create genuine empathy. Empathy is the ability to understand the experiences from another person’s perspective. Your team needs to know that you can relate to their feelings, concerns and inspirations.
You can demonstrate empathy by taking a moment simply looking, soaking in and considering what it must be like to live in another person’s world.
Ask yourself what it must be like for them to take on the daily activities they engage in as a human being.
As a leader you need to communicate empathy by acknowledging people’s concerns and perspective. Phrases like “Yes that’s a problem for you,” I can understand it’s frustrating to you.”
Be Accessible and Approachable
Building rapport means giving people access to you and assisting them feel comfortable when they are around you. The best leaders find ways to make themselves available and make time to meet with people who need their time.
Face-to-face communication must be a priority to communicate availability.
Establish real availability with a real open door policy. Create and environment for people to come in and share their ideas, concerns or simply to share a perspective.
This is another opportunity to make the interaction meaningful. It’s about an authentic connection. Listen to what people have to say and create a comfortable setting for people to feel you are genuinely interested in their thoughts.
Apply the Golden Rule
Camaraderie and rapport results from the way leaders respond to followers. As the Golden Rule says, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Implement the Golden Rule by asking people, “How would you like to be treated in this situation?”
When we listen effectively, we will find out more about the people we serve. This approach may not work for all people, but find a way to connect and treat each person in a fair manner.
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