Love in Leadership: “What’s Love Got to Do with It?”

“What’s love but a secondhand emotion?” These are the words of singer Tina Turner’s best-selling single. And since I typically write about leadership, you may be wondering, what’s love got to do with leadership?

The Greek language defines different types of love that we might demonstrate in interactions with others. It highlights agape love as “universal love, such as the love for strangers, nature, or God… [encompassing] the modern concept of altruism, as defined as unselfish concern for the welfare of others.”

This type of love exemplifies the behaviors that leaders should display. Leadership competency models reinforce it as they incorporate actions that prioritize the relationships between leaders and their teams, such as…

• Caring for direct reports – Demonstrating interest in the work and non-work lives of direct reports.
• Compassion and Sensitivity – Showing genuine interest in others and sensitivity to employees’ needs.
• Connection and belonging – Communicating often and openly.
• Trusting relationships – Being quick to praise and slow to criticize each other.

This level of concern for the welfare of others is a core part of leaders’ ability to communicate and rally support for organizational vision and goals.

Showing love

And there are a variety of strategies leaders can use to show concern for the welfare of others in and around their organization.

Build connections

Get to know your team on a personal level. Who are the family members they care about? What challenges are they experiencing? Discover what they love most about their roles and any common ground you might share. Be transparent and vulnerable with them on select topics.

Demonstrate empathy

This is your ability to sense others’ feelings and perspectives. Agape leaders show an active interest in team members’ concerns and are sensitive to cues on how they feel and think. This is also the opposite of narcissism where some leaders are solely focused on what they want and feel.

Remember the ripple effect

Everything you say and do as a leader is amplified, reported, dissected, and spread within, and outside the organization. There’s no such thing as a casual comment or offhand remark. How you respond to someone who irks you in one meeting will be communicated to people in the next meeting. Words, tone and body language matter greatly. Make it a lifelong discipline to be purposeful and positive in how you interact with others. Demonstrate care for others.

Be a lifter

It’s easy to recognize others’ accomplishments for a job well done. But what do you do when projects go awry, and differences burst out into the open? Rather than publicly criticizing team members’ shortcomings, the best course of action is to address performance problems quickly and privately. Quickly, because this has a compound negative effect on the organization. Privately, because the goal isn’t to embarrass others, but to help them grow and ensure their talents are properly aligned with their role.

Understand the bigger picture

Every decision you make has an impact on people, whether employees, customers and the community. You have a fiduciary responsibility to the organization and a moral and ethical responsibility to the people impacted by your work. In the midst of difficult decisions, treat others the way you would want to be treated.

Listen to understand

We all want to feel heard. It makes us feel validated and recognized as humans. Team members who are closest to the work may have constructive ideas on how to increase efficiencies, but if they don’t believe their leaders will listen and take action, they’ll stop offering their suggestions. This is a lost opportunity both for relationships and insights. Take time to talk with others about their ideas, their professional goals and to understand their perspectives.

Love is core

Love isn’t a secondhand emotion—it’s a core emotion. Leaders should balance their fiduciary responsibility for the organization with their concern for the well-being of the people who are the organization. The altruistic desire to provide a welcoming space where team members feel cared for enhances engagement and motivation and positively impacts organizational results.

A CEO recently explained to me his company’s goal of optimizing profit instead of maximizing profit. This means sacrificing profit in the short term to create long-term sustained shareholder value. They’re effectively balancing care for all stakeholders and not just focusing on huge payouts for senior executives.

Good leaders find ways to show agape love to their teams. And this creates a warm environment where the entire organization can learn and grow.

Want more leadership tips from Priscilla? See how effective leadership is just like baking.