Do They Really Know How Much You Value Them?

Originally shared in A Daily Dose Of Leadership on July 8, 2020.

As leaders, we each work incredibly hard to earn belief and trust from each individual on our teams. But let me stop here and point out that I didn’t say “as managers” or “as executives” because the title alone has very little to do with leading!

Quite honestly, earning belief and trust with each of our team members is something we should be working to do on a daily basis. One of the ways we can do that is by being very intentional about showing how much we truly value the unique skill sets each of them provide our organizations.

In a recent Leading At The Next Level lesson called A MAJOR Underlying Issue, I touched on some of the issues we’re seeing across our great nation on what seems to be a daily basis. While it may or may not be quite as dramatic as the media paints it, there are some significant issues that need to be addressed. And in my opinion, it’s not a black or white issue, nor is it a democrat or republican issue – although that seems to be what we’re hearing and seeing the most about… In that lesson, I made a case for it being a Love Thy Neighbor Issue that really stems from not enough people ever learning to appropriately love themselves.

As I closed the last message, I made a reference to The Law of the Mirror, chapter three in The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth by John Maxwell. Simply put, The Law of the Mirror states that “you must see value in yourself to add value to yourself.”

As we look at our society on any given day, based on the lack of loving our neighbors alone, I believe it’s pretty apparent that a whole bunch of people don’t see much value in themselves – and therefore aren’t adding value to themselves (or anyone else them come in contact with for that matter)!

OK leader, here’s where you matter in this scenario!

If we want to earn trust and belief from each person we have a responsibility for leading, we can start that process by making sure they understand how much value we place in them as people and how much value we place on the specific skill they provide in what we’re working together to accomplish. Unfortunately, I believe it’s all too safe for us to assume that most of the people on our teams don’t place a high enough (appropriate) value on themselves.

An effective way for proving that we value them is to be intentional about investing into developing them; show we see value in them by adding value to them! I’m not suggesting we blindly throw money at them; I am suggesting though that we look for specific opportunities we can provide for them that provide practical tools they can apply immediately to show return on that investment. This will likely look a bit different for any given team member, but a leader should have a firm understanding of what each individual excels in as well as where they could use some support…

Once we’re able to create a culture where our team members really know how much we value them, they can begin to really value themselves. When we provide an example by adding value to them, they might just begin looking at ways they can add even more value to themselves! And once we’ve developed a team of people who value themselves, they’re much more likely to place a high value on everyone else around them; you know, loving thy neighbor… That’s where the door opens for building a culture where everyone begins to look for opportunities in each challenge that comes their way. We’ll dig into that in the next blog!