By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth

What if you could improve your leadership effectiveness in only 5 days? No really – what if? What if there were no costs, no strings attached, no hidden agendas, no complex curriculum, but just a simple set of instructions for you to follow over the next 5 days that will change your world as a leader? Well, I have a 5 day leadership challenge for you which will do just exactly that – You in?

Here’s the deal – leadership has very little to do with what you can do for yourself, but it has almost everything to do with what you can do for others. If I do away with all the management speak and complex theory, leadership can actually be distilled down to one very tangible measurement; the quality of your relationships. Let’s be honest, fractured relationships adversely impact culture, cause stress, infringe upon your thought life, waste time, and inhibit performance. Healthy relationships, on the other hand, create synergy, establish good will, engender confidence, foster trust, encourage loyalty, and build healthy cultures. The bad news is unhealthy relationships are in fact a reflection of your leadership ability. The good news is there isn’t a single person reading today’s post that is incapable of improving their strained relationships. Therein lies the challenge…

We all suffer from living with relationship gaps that can be and should be narrowed, if not closed altogether. It doesn’t matter whether these gaps are positional or philosophical, whether they exist because of your pride or their ego, or whether you need to build a bridge or mend a fence due to a wrong that was committed by you or against you. The simple fact remains that troubled relationships impact your ability to lead. The question is not whether you have fractured relationships, but if you recognize them, and if so, what you will or won’t do about them. Smart leaders don’t allow fractured relationships to disrupt healthy behaviors and attitudes.  

Here’s the 5 day challenge:
Day 1: Identify one relationship in need of improvement. Determine their needs, assess their positions, perceptions and opinions, and identify how you can help them.  
Day 2: Now comes the hard part…extend an invitation to meet in person - no phone calls, emails, DMs, or Facebook messages. Get face-to-face.
Day 3: Have the meeting, ask questions, process, and listen. Remember this is about them and not about you. Treat them like you’d want to be treated.
Day 4: Evaluate the meeting and the response of the person you met with. Follow-up and follow through. Do what you said you would do.  
Day 5:  Start the process over again with a different person. Want to bite-off more than one relationship? Be my guest, but remember that you can still improve as a leader one relationship at a time.

This process will work for anyone in your value chain – peers, subordinates, customers, vendors, partners, etc. It only requires effort on your part and a sincere desire to better serve those within your span of control, or your sphere of influence. Do yourself a favor and start improving your relationships today…Thoughts?