Are Relationships Your Top Work Priority? Here’s Why They Should Be

Are Relationships Your Top Work Priority? Here’s Why They Should Be

IT’S AN AMAZING FEELING: When you stroll into Rob Ulmer’s workplace, he immediately lets go of no matter he’s doing. He turns to you with a heat greeting and offers you his undivided consideration.

As colleagues who labored beneath Rob’s management for years, we will’t recall a single occasion after we felt pushed out, nudged to go away, or disengaged. Rob merely offers you his full self. He’s a grasp at creating high-quality moments for his individuals.

Today, Robert Ulmer is dean of the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). Originally from Canada, Rob is a pacesetter who brings enthusiasm, positivity, and a complete dedication to individuals—all day, on daily basis. We interviewed him not too long ago for our e-book, Positive Communication for Leaders, to know how he does it.

“As a leader, I have to be sensitive to the human equation,” Rob defined on a Zoom name. “People really do matter to me,” he added. “You’re hiring people, and you have to give them time and attention. You have to be interested in who they are and what they’re about. You have to care.”

“People signal to you whether you matter or not, whether they’re more interested in you or more interested in themselves,” he defined. He briefly paused and added: “I know what that feeling is like when people don’t care about you, and I don’t want [anyone I work with] to have that feeling.”

“The default for most people,” Rob continued, “is to be impersonal. Many people will treat others transactionally. It’s very easy to focus on the role and the position. Everybody will tell you that you can’t take the time to spend with people, that it’s about something else.”

He paused for readability. “That’s all nonsense,” he stated as he shook his head. “Investing in relationships can be done at all leadership levels.”

In the interview, we stepped in and performed satan’s advocate. We argued that most individuals would say, “I can’t do that all the time. I’ve got emails to attend to, another meeting to go to.” What about all of the issues that might take an individual away from the encounter?

Rob responded, “Out of all the things you’ve mentioned, what could be more important than the person you have with you in that moment?”

Relationships Should Be a Leader’s Top Priority

Rob’s rhetorical query reveals the mindset that drives his method to work. As he put it within the interview: “Relationships are the most important priority.” There’s nothing above that.

From Rob’s vantage level, there’s no inside management battle about his priorities. He’s dwelling his ideas. “I’m not using a focus on relationships as a way to get to some other outcome,” Rob concluded. “The end outcome is the relationship.”

With this philosophy in thoughts, Rob makes a number of small and large choices that deliver this philosophy to life. At one level within the dialog, he mirrored, “Sure, we have a whole bunch of problems today. We’ll have them tomorrow. I don’t go to work with the expectation that I’m going to have a perfect day. So, when I’m talking to people, I go in and have those meaningful conversations for as long as it takes. Those other extraneous issues don’t really matter. What gets us where we’re going is the relationships that we’re developing.”

What are you able to do at this time to construct on Rob’s method and create high quality moments with others? Here are some easy-to-do methods you’ll be able to implement at this time:

• Control your calendar. It’s tempting to let another person handle your time. “Most bosses aren’t in charge of their calendars, but I am,” Rob famous throughout our interview. Rob’s recommendation? Take management of your conferences, don’t let individuals populate your calendar, and depart vital time to satisfy with individuals.
• Say “no” to nonstop conferences. Forget back-to-back conferences. As Rob says, “I schedule meetings with space and latitude so I can spend time with people.”
• Visit individuals in particular person. How many individuals are you connecting with as you sit behind your desk? Instead, take a web page from Rob’s e-book. “I’m out of my office and going to other people’s offices daily. If somebody comes to see me and I’m not available,” Rob defined, “I’ll come find them that day.”
• Leave your telephone behind. Don’t let calls, texts, and a deluge of notifications interrupt your high quality time. Be like Rob: “I don’t bring my phone with me, so it’s not buzzing me. That means there’s nothing that’s coming in during conversations to interrupt us.”
• Limit emails. During our interview, Rob defined his counterintuitive method: “I don’t send a lot of emails, so as a result, I don’t get a lot of emails.”
• Catch up later. If you’ve one other assembly or can’t work together, make a dedication to that particular person to catch up within the close to future. Tell them, “Let’s grab a coffee later on” or “Let’s catch up later on.’” Then comply with by way of and meet with the particular person one-on-one.

Positive leaders draw on the basic understanding that management is about relationships. It’s primarily based on the method of initiating contact with individuals, attending to know them, having fun with these interactions, and being absolutely current with them.

Saying good day, catching up with individuals, sharing jokes, and updating others about our lives collectively weave the material of {our relationships}, create mutual understanding, and improve our affect as constructive leaders. And if you try this, you’ll be able to create a tremendous feeling.

Julien C. Mirivel, Ph.D., is an award-winning trainer, writer, {and professional} speaker acknowledged as a founding scholar of constructive communication. Alexander Lyon, Ph.D., is a professor, writer, advisor, and speaker identified for his in style YouTube channel, Communication Coach Alex Lyon. Their new e-book is Positive Communication for Leaders: Proven Strategies for Inspiring Unity and Effecting Change. Learn extra at PositiveCommunicationForLeaders.com.

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Posted by Michael McKinney at 05:53 AM

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