Quote-A-Day: Day 277

#Relationships require you to get to know people, not just get to know about them. #QuoteADay #Day277 #edchat #edu #GettingToKnowYou

Relationship building is a central part of the successful leader’s repertoire.  If we don’t build relationships with others, then we won’t be able to truly accomplish what needs to be done.  You can’t build capacity if people don’t know you (or don’t want to know you).

Relationships are based on getting to know people, not just getting to know about them.  This is important as it is very easy to get to know about others, but much more difficult to truly, and deeply, get to know people.

Getting to know someone requires us to learn about them in ways that we can’t do third-hand.  We can’t get to know others by hearing about them from another source.

We need to actually sit down with people and talk.

And listen.

When we get to know people, we not only learn what makes them who they are, we get the added bonus of knowing how we can support them, and in turn, how they can support us.

The best leaders understand that relationships are at the heart of building a community.  And, unless we’re willing to invest the time and energy into truly getting to know those around us, we’ll never be able to turn our organizations into our families.