Connections Not Cliques

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the effective leader

Howard Partridge is author of The Power of Community: How Phenomenal Leaders Inspire Their Teams, Wow Their Customers, and Make Bigger Profits.  

In an article in The Leadership Quarterly, Louis W Fry said, “People need someone and something to believe in. They need a spiritual leader who walks in front of them when they need someone to follow, someone who walks behind them when they need encouragement and someone to walk beside them when they need a friend. This is the kind of leader who understands that personal agendas must be put aside to foster the kind of spirit at work that creates a genuine sense of community.”1 This is the kind of leader who is effective and can empower people through the power of community.

Every human being has a longing for belonging. We all want to feel loved, accepted, and validated. We want to feel that our lives matter. Deep down, we want to belong to something bigger than ourselves. We want to make a positive difference. Today, we are more connected digitally than ever before, and yet we often feel more isolated and disconnected personally than ever.

This sense of isolation not only affects our personal lives, but also dramatically affects our work life as well. The ongoing Gallup Engagement Poll revealed that 70% of American workers are disengaged from their work. Perhaps even more disturbing, 18% of those workers are actively disengaged, meaning they are actually working against the success of the company. No surprise that this lack of positive purpose bleeds over from employees to customers and has a serious negative impact on our organizations.