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The human connect

The last few weeks I interacted with a few senior leaders who I admire and there was a certain commonality to the discussion. 

One of them told me how their ex-boss of many years ago still calls them up on their birthday and anniversary. It might seem trivial, but he knew this ex-boss when he was a Management Trainee 20 years ago. 

Another leader mentioned to me how today if someone falls like, they are fairly unlikely to get a call/ping/inquiry from the manager on how they are. It is "as if some work is affected, but nothing more than that". There were other people who took a day off only to find her inbox promptly filled for next days deliverables. 

The third example was of a team that appreciated their leader. A leader who was simply present during 1:1s, fully. No phones, no distractions - turn on video and fully present. And the leader did the same during long review meetings - asking good questions. The net result? An incredibly motivated and charged team - who says, wow, the leader is interested in knowing our contributions that he spends hours in a review going over things we do. 

The commonality of all this is the "the human connect".  As life goes by in a flash over whatsapp pings, slack notifications, skype messages and not to mention emails and shared drives, the human connect remains an important part of any leaders skillset.

And its not about time at all...

[PS: I myself am guilty as charged for some of these, so, yes, a learning for me as well]

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