A Distinguished Leader’s Journey: Building Empowering Relationships
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United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County

A Distinguished Leader’s Journey: Building Empowering Relationships

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Shannon Reed
Portfolio Manager- Income, United Way

I never could have imagined my third Masters Series for Distinguished Leaders session would be better than the one I experienced last month, but it was. We focused on building empowering relationships to effectively execute the mission and vision of your organization. If people believe in you, trust you, and respect you, you are more likely to move them into action.

One of the topics we discussed was a leader’s four key gifts: time, work-life balance, listening and honest feedback.  

  • Time: Leaders must be good managers of their time. You have to build time in your work schedule to reflect. Find time to work from a coffee shop or somewhere where you can be free thinking. You have to value YOUR TIME- or no else will.
  • Work-life balance: You should have a good balance between your personal life and your work life.  (Ok take that in for a second...)  Think about all your current responsibilities, job, family, friends, it’s easy to give more of your time to one particular area, so think about where you give the most too and other areas where you may need to shift to create better balance.
  • Listening: Leaders must also be good listeners. Sounds easy right? To be effective listeners leaders must learn when to be quiet and when to let others share. It is also important to know when to speak up. As effective leaders it is our job to give consistent and honest feedback that builds capacity in individuals. An employee under an effective leader should never have to question their performance.

Next, we discussed the three most common kinds of relationships that exist within an organization and the influence it can have on us as leaders.

  • The parasitic relationship: This relationship is an unhealthy one. This person will drag your vision down. If you feel you have someone in your life who is like this, distance yourself, they are likely to suck the life out of you.
  • The communalistic relationship: The kind where you share the same space, but you are not really there. For example, if you are working for an organization you believe in but the vision is not being carried out.
  • The mutualistic relationship: This is the kind of relationship good leaders seek because both parties benefit from each other’s strengths and weaknesses. These individuals make progress in a positive direction to help move the mission. In order to do this, you have to get a good mentor in your life. Find someone who will hold you accountable and give you honest feedback. 

We also discussed the addition and subtraction of relationships for leaders, which comes down to knowing when to add people into your circle that will benefit the organization and when to take individuals out. It’s also about knowing how to balance and maintain relationships that enhance an organization’s mission and vision.

As a leader, building relationships is one of the strongest skillsets you can have. When you are in an effective relationship you will thrive as a leader and your organization will benefit. It will teach you how to work collaboratively to create, develop, and sustain an organization’s mission.