Can You Connect With Anyone?

“Connecting is the ability to identify with people and relate to them in a way that increases your influence with them.” John Maxwell

When I had my first leadership position, I definitely didn’t understand this principle! I thought it was my job to get results and if an employee was trying to talk to me about something that didn’t apply to what I was working on, I considered in an interruption.

The more I’ve worked with hundreds of new and inexperienced leaders, the more I understand that I wasn’t alone in this! And maybe that’s you, too. The reality is, if we put people first and increase our connecting abilities, we will get more of the results we are looking for!

How do we do this? Well, first of all, that question can’t be answered in totality with a blog post! I’ve created several courses and classes that speak to this topic. As a matter of fact, our Empowered Leaders Membership Group focuses on this principle every month in a shared learning environment. But, I can give you a couple of tips to get you started…

• Awareness: choice is a function of awareness, if you don’t know that connecting is a ‘thing’ then you won’t work on it. You can mark this one off already, just by reading this blog!
• Belief: you need to believe that connecting is important AND that you can do it. It’s more natural to some people, however, everyone can learn how to increase their connecting skills.
• Identify With People: pause and listen to them, try to understand their perspective (even if it doesn’t make sense to you), leave your judgment out of it- this conversation isn’t about you!
• Mirror Their Communication Style- this builds rapport; if they talk slower with pauses, try to do the same. If they talk faster, try to do the same, but authentically. At first, you just need to be aware of their style and as you grow you can begin practicing this.
• Practice- anywhere and with anyone! This is not just a skill to be used at work. Get better at this skill in all areas of your life and you’ll live a rich, deep, and rewarding life for sure!

If you’d like to learn with others about building relationships, increasing connecting skills, and valuing people, join us in the Empowered Leaders Membership Group. If you sign up by 11:59 pm on 7/31, you’ll receive these bonuses:

• A complimentary DISC personality report that shows you how you prefer to communicate AND gives you tips on how to communicate with others that might connect differently than you. ($99 value)
• A 30-minute coaching call with me to talk about your report and how to flex your style to listen and connect better. ($60 value)
• An EBook on how to communicate, collaborate, and connect with anyone! ($11 Value)
• Sign up yourself OR if you’re already in the group, refer a friend who signs up and receive this package ($170 value) for FREE.

We’d love to have you! Empowered Leaders Group