Most of us are guilty at one time or another of prioritising action over interaction. At times, usually in crisis, that may be needed. Mostly it’s not.
We might notice excellence in the work of one of our colleagues yet fail to recognise it with them in the moment as the task list beckons us to keep moving. We may witness poor behaviour or something not quite up to scratch and make a mental note to come back and address the issue later, only for the intention to get lost in our next activity.
Our days are made up of myriad opportunities like these and many others, so missing them might seem inconsequential. There’s always next time.
Instead we might choose to see them as precious moments for building connection and relationship, for letting the other person know we care about and appreciate them even if our feedback is of the constructive rather than positive kind.
Of course, leading in this way takes more time and eats into the time available for task completion. Yet if we don’t recognise and appreciate the humanity of our colleagues, they’ll become increasingly disengaged, performance will drop and we’ll need to find a great deal more time to repair the damage.