What if I told you that the key to being a great leader is not about how much you know or how much experience you have—it’s about who you know and how you deal with them?
I will describe relational leadership in this article and discuss its five components.
What is Relational Leadership?
The relational leadership model shows the ability of a leader to possess relational skills and create positive relationships within an organization for the success of any business. It emphasizes the importance of social order, building trust, communicating clearly, and working collaboratively with team members.
Relational leaders take the time to establish a high level of trust with their team members. When members feel valued and know their leader cares about them, they work harder, which makes those leaders more successful.
Therefore, relational leadership theory does not depend on a leader’s hierarchical position or role alone. It depends on the changes constructed and produced by all team members.
5 Components of Relational Leadership
What type of leader are you?
Perhaps, you consider the relational leadership model if you lead a business, organization, or project. The approach values inclusion, empowerment, purposefulness, ethical behavior, and process orientation.
1. Inclusion
One of the main roles of a relational leader is to include everyone and involve their ideas. If you listen to everyone in the group and seek out individual perspectives, you can help them make a positive change in the organization and achieve your common goal together.
Inclusion is the foundation of leadership, and it’s not just about being nice. When you are an inclusive leader, you encourage them to make a group decision. They feel a sense of ownership over their work, understand how their contributions fit into the bigger picture and often discover solutions that no one could have thought of alone. By ensuring that everyone on your team feels like they’re part of the process, you’re ensuring they feel empowered and invested in what comes next.
2. Empowerment
Being an empowering and servant leader is crucial to the success of any group. It’s vital to have a genuine interest in the growth and development of others, as well as the skills to encourage that growth. The relational approach always creates a positive effect. It will help you earn respect and loyalty.
3. Purposefulness
You should know where you are headed as the key driver of business performance. You must clearly articulate your organization’s goals so others can understand, support the effort, and work toward achieving them. That is why a relational leadership style requires strong communication skills.
Remember to constantly stay up-to-date on what’s happening within your organization and the world around them. You need to know what challenges are coming up so you can plan accordingly and ensure success for everyone involved.
4. Ethical Behavior
Practicing ethical behaviors means using moral values to guide your actions. It means adhering to principles such as honesty, integrity, and good faith in your dealings with others, including resolving workplace disputes. You should also consider the impact of your decisions on those around you and strive to act in their best interest and the common good of the organization you represent.
There are some simple ways to start practicing ethical behavior:
1. You follow company policies and procedures to ensure smooth operations.
2. You treat everyone equally regardless of race, color, sex, national origin, age, or handicap.
3. You encourage employees to communicate openly, particularly when sharing information about workplace dangers and other concerns that may affect them personally. It’s a great idea to show your best care.
4. By offering training and professional development opportunities to your member, you enable them to grow their skillset, which helps them improve their professional lives and potential.
Being an ethical leader means utilizing your morality to guide the way you run your team.
5. Process Orientation
There’s a big difference between directing and leading. Directing is when you give instructions without questions. Conversely, leading is when you encourage your team to communicate and reflect to view the process as equally important as the outcome.
As a relational leader, you should encourage their team to reflect on how they could improve the process by asking questions such as “What could we have done differently?” or “How could we have handled this better?” It creates an environment where people feel safe to share criticism and learn from it.
Every employee is different and has their own values, so a relational leader shouldn’t expect everyone to perform at the same level. Instead, encourage each person on the team to focus on what they do best while also learning new skills through mentoring opportunities with other employees who are more robust in those areas of expertise.
Conclusion
In conclusion, relational leadership builds trust, creates growth opportunities, and empowers people to achieve their full potential and have a superior experience in the organization. Effective leaders must find common ground with the members and know they are responsible for accomplishing goals and building healthy interpersonal relationships to succeed.
Although developing relational leadership skills can be difficult, it is all worth it. Your leadership effectiveness can have significant effects, such as getting more work done faster, improving productivity and efficiency in your team, and creating a more positive work culture overall. And this nature of leadership will be embodied if you have an individual commitment to participate in the social influence process actively.
The relational process of people is robust and has a significant effect. It can strengthen every area of your life, especially your familial, work, and business relationships.
If you use this information to improve your relationships, you will live in a more positive environment than ever. You’ll be able to enjoy the benefits of increased productivity and personal satisfaction and feel more secure about your future.