This is the third in a series of blog posts about common blunders leaders make that send a message of being unavailable to employees. See our previous post in this blog series on leader blunders.
Leader Blunder No. 3: Being invisible. Leaders often get so busy, they forget to make time to be visible to employees. Over time, this sends a message to employees of unavailability, and this makes us a little faklempt. We know it’s easy to disappear into the daily vortex of meetings that swallows up workdays. But if leaders don’t frequently come up for air, how can they expect to lead, inspire, engage and connect with employees?
The simple act of visibility does not need to take much effort or time. Leaders don’t need to have an agenda to take a few laps around the office. Simply take a cue from Saturday Night Live character Linda Richman. We’ll even give you a topic. “Coffee, New York, daughters, dogs.” Discuss. Keeping it real but simple and informal is what employees will tend to remember. The result of frequent visibility? It’s like buttah. When employees feel like they can talk to leaders, even about the small stuff, they tend to feel a connection. And connections lead to sharing of ideas or concerns.
Do you have examples to share of leader visibility? We’ll talk, no big whoop.