Hello and
Welcome Everyone to the inaugural post of this Blog dedicated to the Special Leaders
the 21st century requires!
This post is about
the art of being gracious: a key ingredient to building bridges to success.
Success = Having Great People Skills
Business - indeed
life - is really basically all about human relations. Success depends on
managing them well. Being gracious is an indispensable ingredient, yet it is an
art form that needs and requires to be cultivated. These days it appears to be
loosing ground - which only means that those who master the art will stand out
all the more. Indeed, many employers are desperately looking
for people with the so-called "soft skills". . .
As Dale Carnegie
notes in his marvelous book, How
to Make Friends & Influence People,
people have paid good money for those who have mastered the art of human
relations. Andrew Carnegie, the steel magnate, paid one million dollars at the
turn of last century - when one million dollars was
an exorbitant amount of money - to Charles Schwab who knew absolutely
nothing
about the steel industry, but a lot about people. His colleagues were
aghast. When pressed for an explanation, Andrew responded that Charles could
always learn everything he needed to know about the industry, while few - if
anyone - matched him in his people skills. And he was right: Schwab went on to
do great things for the company.
Gracious
= . . ?
Sooo, what does it mean to be
"gracious"? Being gracious is about being interested in - and caring
for - other people. It's about being considerate. It's about being courteous.
It's about being classy. It's about looking after the small details. It's about
helping people bond. It is, finally, about building bridges.
✨Being
Gracious in Action
Hosting
Events
Gracious hosts do their homework to find out
interesting things about their invitees, and then put that information to work.
Examples may seem obvious, but it is amazing how widespread the lack of
graciousness can be! Thus, just to mention a few places where being gracious
can make a big difference:
Small Group Events
In small groups (2 to 4), to bring people
together, a gracious host performing one-to-one introductions will say
something nice or interesting about the person being introduced, and of the
person to whom he or she is being introduced. It is also interesting to note
how they all met and came to be at the event.
Networking Events
Similarly, when hosting a networking event
(actually any event or party), a gracious host:
1. Introduces everyone
to everyone. As people arrive at the event, instead of letting them flounder
awkwardly in the room, a gracious host introduces them to someone with whom
they may have things in common, noting what those things are to help them
launch an conversation. If those things are unknown, another approach would be
to note or elicit something interesting about each one, allowing them then to
explore the matter further.
2. If it's a relatively
small group, and a conversation is already underway among those present, the
gracious thing to do with a new arrival is to pause the conversation for a
minute to introduce him or her and briefly let him or her know what everyone is
talking about. There is nothing ruder than people continuing their
conversation, totally ignoring the new arrival and leaving him or her to guess
what it is they're talking about.
3. When a critical mass
has arrived, it is always nice to have everyone briefly introduce themselves by
name, occupation, interests. Again, a gracious facilitator will keep things
flowing with encouraging remarks.
4. After the event, if
the personal information of the attendees has been collected, the next day - or
within a couple days at most - it is always a nice gesture to
send them all a thank you for having attended, and expressing anticipation at
keeping in touch. If possible, a personal touch is always greatly appreciated.
(e.g. "your comments about ___ were particularly interesting . . ."
"it was most interesting to learn about your experiences in ___"
etc., etc.)
Teamwork
In teamwork, a gracious leader gives
contributors their place & acknowledges their contributions - most
especially after a strenuous project that required team members to work beyond
the call of duty to pull it off.
Attending to Clients
There's a plethora of literature on being
client-centric. For purposes of this blog, suffice it to say that being
gracious is about smiling and being empathetic, considerate and attentive.
To conclude, being gracious is not at odds
with being powerful. Au contraire! Being gracious is the mark of a secure
leader who truly cares about people. And it pays. Studies have shown that up to
80% of
the value of a company is due to soft-skills. Thus, isn't it worth investing in
cultivating them?
Cheers! ✨
(c) 2013 Alina A.C.E. Aldape / Alicia
Catalina Gonzalez Aldape. All Rights Reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment