High demands on leaders

Certainly: The demands placed on leaders are increasing enormously. The pressure on them is undeniably high. unmistakably high. It is exceedingly rare to have an opportunity to exchange ideas with someone on equal footing who gives honest, sincere feedback. Leadership is an additional challenge because each individual needs a different kind of leadership to perform optimally. What is reflected everywhere, however, is the need for appreciation by the leader.

More humanity, please

More humanity in leadership and collaboration can be the key to success. This concerns the strengthening of a basic human attitude in terms of esteem, respect, and mutual interaction. It is humanity that has its origin in every single leader and every employee – one that requires a high level of personal competence as a basis.

Such a culture is THE prerequisite for emotional attachment of employees to the company, which in turn is directly related to the emotional attachment of the most important people with whom employees come into contact – the customers. In times of ever-increasing comparability of products and services, employees make the difference in customer experience, thus offering a key competitive advantage. The reason: Only satisfied and committed employees who are able to identify with their company will direct their focus to the outside – to the customer – and have them experience genuine customer orientation. The quality of leadership contributes significantly to achieve this objective.

More than just soft skills

The journey begins with us, because a human, appreciative attitude reflects more than just soft skills. This basic attitude is a decisive factor for a company’s financial success and cannot simply be learned through quick communication or management seminars. That would just be “scratching the surface.” When individuals fail to reach a point in their own development where they use tools and techniques from their own basic attitude, then they will not be effective either. In the worst case, they will try it out for a few days and then fall back into old habits because it just doesn’t work.

Develop real relationship competence

Instead, we need to develop real relationship skills – the ability to enter into genuine authentic contact with others, to build relationships, and to keep them even under difficult conditions. Learned tools and techniques are not sufficient – this journey must begin with us. We must first look inwards to be able to authentically look outwards on this basis and be able to establish genuine contact with others. If we want to develop our relationship competence, we need a solid foundation: self-competence. That is why we must begin by strengthening individuals in their self-competence – in dealing with others and in contact with themselves.