By Tom Davidson
What every proactive leader must do to build connections…step 5, the final one!
Taking a cue from small towns, there are five categories of things every leader can do to build connections among people. The following acronym for what you can do spells “Main St.” for a reason. Here’s the fifth:
“St.” is for Site See – You can wait to be invited over to other people’s teams and departments, but people in small towns get out to see for themselves. Go sight seeing in your team or organization by
1. Asking for a tour or visit to another team like yours to learn something new about their best practices.
2. Asking for an orientation to an entirely different department or functional area from yours and taking some of your team along to see how their work is connected to others outside of your work unit.
3. Taking your team to an entirely different organization to see how they work together, communicate or serve the public so everyone can look at old problems through fresh eyes.
4. Without connections like these, your team might be colleagues but not friends, tolerant but not understanding, and talking but not communicating. Take your cue from small town ecosystems and build back the kinds connections they want and that every leader needs for successful teamwork at work.