I cannot even begin to add up how many times recently I have been asked – “But aren’t you lonely?” “Do you miss the office?”.
My answer every time is a resolute no.
In fact, I feel more connected and more present than ever to business, to what is going on here and now, to people and to my family. I am hearing so many amazing stories of success, so many dreams and aspirations from emerging businesses with a willingness to learn, grow and develop and so many plans for the future from existing businesses. And it got me thinking. How as business leaders and owners do we ensure our teams stay connected? How do we minimise the negative impact of office politics on people’s passion for the job?
For me personally, there are 4 drivers;
1. Passion – you have to love what you do to have a sense of being and a mission to achieve. Only when you have this does work become fun and you remain connected to what is going on around you. If you are passionate about what you do, you have endless amounts of energy and this in itself becomes contagious; you naturally attract like-minded people and thinkers.
2. Persistance – a personal drive and persistence to achieve and reach your personal goals and dreams keeps you focused and connected to the here and now, to the decisions that need to be made and to avoid those areas that don’t need your energy.
3. Perseverance and commitment – that individual determination to succeed and reach your goal allows you to ride the highs and also find a way through the lows, learning and growing along the way, treating each obstacle as a learning step in the journey vs a debilitating halt to your progress.
4. Self belief – if you don’t believe in yourself how can others believe in you. You are in control of your own destiny and future, you make the decisions, right and wrong and only you choose which footpath to take. Successful leaders all have a solidity about them, a calmness, an ability to take on more than the average person and I believe this stems from an inner peace. The more self belief you have and self awareness, the less stressed you become because you can see clearly and objectively.
Connection is a lot more than networking. It is about being present, about working in collaboration with like-minded people, about working towards shared goals, about the art of reciprocity.