How well do you know your team members as individuals? - SmartBrief

All Articles Leadership How well do you know your team members as individuals?

How well do you know your team members as individuals?

1 min read

By Mike Figliuolo 05/26/16

Leadership

SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Leadership — tracks feedback from more than 190,000 business leaders. We run the poll question each week in our e-newsletter.

Last week, we asked: How well do you know your team members as individuals?

  • Very well — I know a great deal about them: 42.9%
  • Well — I know a few things about them: 47.58%
  • Not well — I don’t know very much about them: 8.01%
  • Not at all — I know pretty much nothing about them: 1.5%

The more you know. It’s a simple premise – the better you know your people, the better you’re able to lead them.  While it’s great to know superficial things about them, knowing and understanding their motivations, feelings, aspirations, and histories can go a long way.  At the heart of knowing them better is listening with both ears and letting go of your agenda.  If you’re only hearing but not listening, you’re likely to miss a great opportunity to lead them more effectively.

Mike Figliuolo is managing director of thoughtLEADERS and author of “One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership.”