“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...

What you sow, you will reap. You don’t plant a corn seed and get spinach! The same is true for leadership.

What you plant inside your people will grow into maturity.

I coached a young and inexperienced leader several years ago; she was younger than everyone on her team. She believed that no one would listen to her because of her age and lack of experience. That belief drove her behavior. She showed up to meetings and didn’t talk. She let people make their own schedules even though it didn’t benefit the team. She never said anything about the problem behaviors she saw.

I think you can imagine the results!

She slowly realized the seeds she planted in her team by looking at those results (i.e. her crop). She had to take a long look at herself, her beliefs, how she wanted to show up. As we worked with her, she began planting better seeds (words of encouragement, facilitating discussions, approaching problems).

The more she sowed good seed, the better crop she got, and...