Societal leadership: A New Approach
July 7, 2021
There was a time when emotional or empathetic skills were considered frail, which did not have any role in successful management. In today's market environment, leaders must be not only smart and robust decision-makers, but also outstanding social skills, to manage the highly dynamic factors of effective leadership. They must show societal leadership.
What is Societal leadership?
Societal leadership is a new style of leadership fit for the Social Age. This type of leadership is built on our reputation in our society. Within a hierarchy, it will reaffirm the leaders’ authority, but it is still accessible for employees without any formal influence.
Social Leaders help a company to grow, by uniting the employees to cope with everyday challenges of the business. Societal leadership is based on humility, fairness and kindness, it’s a power that is earned, cause it’s built upon trust.
To be a Social Leader
Learn to Listen – When it comes to social skills, the greatest mistake one can make is to think that social skills are only about how to be convincing. But you can be much more involved with your talks if you have an interest in what other people are talking about. Simply put, employees are much more willing to listen to you if you listen to them.
Show respect for everyone – You must honor everybody, whether it is a 5-year-experienced employee or a young first jobber who has just been there a few days. Team members will only listen to you if they respect you. The only way to win respect is to give it, and that is vital. Respect is not just the social skill, but also the foundation of any relationship. People will believe you, be honest and work hard with you, if you are respectable to them.
Make a positive impression first – It was always important to make the first positive impression, and now it’s even more important. This is because you may only have one chance to meet anyone with whom you work in today’s digital world, and that meeting might be the only way you can make an impact before you ever connect only through email. Give your undivided attention and gratitude to somebody when you meet, for this could be the only chance you have.
Promoting a social environment – If the culture is transparent and debatable, people are far more likely to be social. A transparent and welcoming environment benefits, of course, will promote interactions. Such environments will create relationships between people, and help to form a united team. After all, a team would get so much more from building bridges than from building walls.
Be ready – Whether you first meet a staff member, pitch a new customer or meditate on a disagreement between two staff members, make sure that you are prepared. You can not make any impact in the meeting if you have not done your homework to know who you are meeting. Moreover, it seems to appear that you do not appreciate the time of other people, and you don’t respect them.
Positive thinking and enthusiasm – Negative talks and environments lead to negative thinking, whereas negative thinking leads to doubtful thinking. Turning negatives into positive thinking or behavior is a perfect way to create relationships and improve employee involvement.