Compassionate leaders never DEMAND that employees follow their lead. They uplift them to become LEADERS THEMSELVES.

I have often heard this phrase, especially in the context of my native country, India: “Entrepreneurship is like the ‘New College Guitar’ of our times.”

For many people, ‘entrepreneurship’ is like a new fad that everyone (especially millennials) wishes to own.

But is it really that easy to carve your own path and cut through the noise when there are brands emerging and companies mushrooming every day?

Well, obviously not.

All of us who have been hustling in the corporate world for some time, know that entrepreneurship is no solopreneur GIG. It actually starts with building your own team.

No matter how talented, poised and calm you are in the face of pressure, you need to have a team of people who can work with you — even when you have nothing.

Building a Loyal Team

As a leader, you need to ask yourself — when you have nothing to give, can you still build a team? Can you still find people to work with you towards your vision?

This is one key thing to reflect on. After all, building a team is a risk in terms of expending RESOURCES and fitting TEAM MEMBERS alongside each other in your company culture.

But is finding the right people all team-building is about? In fact, it’s just one small part of this entire fickle process of entrepreneurship.

Your team will be full of talented people from diverse backgrounds. There will be technicians, social-media nerds, analysts, artists, and data experts. The challenge is how to make them move as a single, unified organism. This is where you need to be sensible and sensitive at the same time. As a leader, you should be able to put yourself in other people’s shoes and understand what they need.

You need to ask yourself if you can provide the resources your employees require to keep them constantly engaged and evolving in their position.

Just like plants, animals, and the environment, your team members need nourishment to grow and flourish. Before a team member comes and asks you for something, can you anticipate what they might need in order to thrive in your workplace? If you can give them what they truly need before they have to ask, they will feel cared for, and their loyalty towards you and your vision will grow.

Yet, if you are not sensitive enough to anticipate the needs of your team, and you wait until they explicitly express their needs to you, you have lost valuable company time. How so?

Well, by the time an employee musters up the courage to come talk to you, they have most likely been functioning at a less than optimal level for quite some time. It means they have felt stuck.

And if your employees are feeling stuck, then your business is not functioning as well as it could be. So by anticipating your team’s needs you are being both sensible and sensitive while saving time. And time is a very precious commodity in the business world.

Leaders Create Leaders

Compassionate leaders never DEMAND that employees follow their lead. They uplift them to become LEADERS THEMSELVES.

Compassionate leaders never DEMAND that employees follow their lead. They uplift them to become LEADERS THEMSELVES. To achieve this, one has to be skilful and sensitive at the same time. As a leader, this is a delicate balance to cultivate.

To achieve this, one has to be skilful and sensitive at the same time. As a leader, this is a delicate balance to cultivate.

You can provide your team with resources, but see if you can hold back from giving them a direct solution to troubleshoot a problem. Give them space to think. It’s all about kindling the spirit of enquiry and encouraging them to come up with their own unique solutions. This again requires a perfect mix of sensibility and sensitivity.

As a sensitive leader, you must communicate your own vision with your employees and also understand theirs. You need to look after them before you look out for yourself.

If you want a person to be inspired to work with you, there is a simple tenet that you can follow — hear them out with a sensitive ear. When you are authentically present and pay attention to them, their eyes brighten up.

Just make sure that their vision is a subset of your vision. If your vision encapsulates the vision of your employees, then they will be able to give a hundred percent of their energy and potential towards your goal. Now that you have aligned both visions, all you have to do is some groundwork to solidify the bond and keep things rolling.

In my case, I always try to take care of the tangible requirements of my team members. If those tangible goals are met, you can plan for achieving something intangible, and highly meaningful. And that’s what compassionate leaders do.

Success is highly transitory and its definition and parameters constantly change in the business world. As you climb up the ladder towards your vision, some new goals, targets, ambitions, issues, and problems will automatically pop-up. As a leader, you should be ready to make the necessary sacrifices for your people. And when you do, you build a dedicated team of leaders, which is a success in its own right.

Be ready to be sensitive, sensible and keep the hustle ALIVE.

** This article was initially published on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/managing-sensitivity-through-sensibility-what-you-need-chaurasia**/