Loosing sight of people

Working in the field of social service leadership for over a decade has taught me a great deal about the systems around us that succeed and the ones that struggle. This is not to say that the world for some organizations is all roses and sugar The work of leadership is rough on its best days. In all of this, when I work with leaders who are “in the groove” of successful systems improvement, I see one common thread:

Relationships with people.

In the end, a leader’s ability to manage any system of note is virtually indistinguishable from their ability to lead with emotion-focused, open, and personable connection. These leaders keep the people in their organizations in the center of their work and are asking vital questions like “how can those affected by my decisions be included in their development?”

I’m a generally optimistic person, even when I let the cynical edge creep in, I fundamentally believe that people are caring, motivated by good, and want to help others. Lately, there have been a number of tough situations that have challenged that thinking in me. The military conflicts across the world show us what happens when policies ignore the importance of the citizens they affect. The surge in union activity shows us how the profit shortsightedness of business is disenfranchising its workers. The protect movements of the last few years has shown us that more than simply the marginalized are negatively affected by institutional forces like racism. Each of these issues are founded on the idea that the people at the leadership helm of a thing are missing the impact on the people on the ground. When we loose sight of people, we loose sight of the impact of our work and risk all manner of consequences. It is vital that we keep people in the center of things, even when it feels hard to do so.