Leadership Development: Investing in others is critical

In your business relationships and in life, failing to consciously develop and invest in others, causes erosion of trust and belief in you and all you stand for. When compared to all of the worries and tasks that we have for ourselves, investing in others may seem like a minor task on our to-do list for the day. Even though we may categorize this as a “little thing” in the grand scheme of life, we must remember that the little things add up to a lot for our people. And that affects you and in the end, your business and life success.

Investing in others is very important to me, and I try hard to 'do unto others as I would wish them do unto me'. It hasn't always worked that way for me though. There have been times in my previous career - times that I can remember vividly even now - when promises were not kept, decisions were made that negatively affected me and yet positively benefited the decision maker, and where I was not on the best end of the wheeling and dealing that are part of corporate politics.

For me, creating honorable relationships that truly connect with my people has always been important. It is a two-way street. Recently I had a scare with a potential re-occurrence of breast cancer. I did not want to worry my team with it until I knew something for sure. I sent an email Sunday evening letting them know that I was going to take a couple of days off, but if they needed to contact me that they could reach me on my cell phone. No fan fare, no emotion, just a simple notice that was not a whole lot different than any other communication that I would have sent on an ordinary day.

Every member of my team felt the uneasiness and contacted me to ensure that I was ok or as one put it, “you freakishly fell off.” I was amazed at their level of connectedness to me as well as their concern. They were all on the edge of their seats until the tests came back….thank goodness they were negative. A couple even cried when the results came in.

The support and connection that they offered me at that time came from an environment of fai
ess, honesty and trust that had grown over time as well as from conscious efforts of investing in each other. They knew that if it had been them, I would have offered the same.

It was as if, as Steven Covey says, in 'The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People', I had enough credit in my 'emotional bank account' to tide me over.

I'd never realized that I had that credit, but looking back, my standards and values were daily deposits, gained partly by investing in them and giving them a piece of me to help build them and their success. You get back what you give out. There's no better time to start than right now.