We often think of leaders as strong and confident individuals whom possess or show very few faults. I would argue that we should turn this idea of leadership on its head. Vulnerable leaders are more beloved.
Show more of yourself if you want to connect with and retain your team members.
Employees follow vulnerable leaders. They prefer to be in the trenches with a leader who shows that they do not have to be perfect in order to do great things.
Recommended reading: 4 Ways to Improve Employee Loyalty
Think about the managers you respect most. Aren’t they the ones that occasionally poke fun of themselves or have a certain amount of transparency?
This is an attractive trait to have as a leader and a manager, because it makes taking risks and falling short acceptable. This is when things get fun.
Brene’ Brown, researcher and storyteller, talks about this in much more depth in her acclaimed TED Talk.
We must be willing to follow in order to effectively lead.
This can be difficult to do for many, but we can never really gain our team’s respect without revealing that we are human and mess up sometimes. Employees are drawn to leaders who don’t fear appearing imperfect. A team will never really grow to be fruitful without this important ingredient.
Try it out. You might find your connections will be deeper.
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Thank you so much for reading this post. I hope that it gives you that added push you need to draw your teams closer to you by showing them more of you. Open up to giving your team all of you. They will love you for it.
If you found value in this post, please do Like it and Share it. Most importantly, join in the conversation. Do you agree that vulnerable leaders create more loyal employees? Reply below, I would love to hear your honest insights.
Cheers to being a more vulnerable leader!!
