Miguel was a high-level leader within a multinational company, but he felt like a bad father. One weekend he had to fulfill his role as father, that Saturday he had to take his son to play soccer and he stayed for a while watching the game so that his son felt his support. His daughter had to go to his piano class, but he forgot because he stayed longer than he needed at his son's game. When I arrived at the house of the piano teacher, the next student was already taking the class that corresponded to him. At that very moment, Miguel felt that despite being a successful businessman, he was a failure as a father.
At his job, one of his greatest strengths was staying focused on his goals no matter what was going on around him. He had a great strategic vision of the future, he kept his eyes on it, and above all, when he had high-level projects in his hands, he knew how to solve them and maintained his commitment to his work group.
He spent many weekends checking his email, tidying up his schedule so that he could attend all the meetings he had for the week. He was very good at coordinating his work environment, taking full responsibility but couldn't do the same within his home.
But one day, he was shocked that he was missing a fundamental skill as a leader, which was keeping people on his radar. Miguel was excellent at performing his tasks and creating cutting-edge strategies within his mind, but he had great difficulties when he had to take into account people's needs and priorities. For him to be successful at home, he had to observe what the needs of his family members were, just as he did for his business, taking into account what was happening before his radar.
When people are developing their tasks, they often forget to keep their radar alert, but this sense is essential to function as a good leader. Take into account the case of Francisco, he was a sales manager who was in charge of a great work team, his employees were delighted to work with him, because he had a great instinct to see sales at the moment. He observed each situation and immediately knew what to do to turn the situation to his advantage. He had a sixth sense for sales.
Pero un día, un empleado llamada Antonio quería actuar con rapidez para contratar a una persona como el nuevo representante de ventas, pero en ese momento Francisco estaba muy ocupado para tratar el tema, estaba negociando una campaña de ventas para una gran firma y necesitaba tener toda su atención puesta en sus objetivos. Este proyecto era la única cosa que estaba dentro de su pantalla del radar.
After their meeting ended, Francisco reviewed the resume of that person and considered that he was not sufficiently prepared for that position, so he decided to speak with the human resources department so that they would not hire him. But he forgot that on the way, Antonio was there with his great interest in that person, and he got very angry for not telling him what was happening. Francisco did not take into account that it was simpler, to speak directly with him, so that he would not feel displaced and belittled in the search for a new employee. He had forgotten to keep his radar alert to his work environment. He only cared about performing his tasks well.
One of the important questions for many leaders is how can I make sure that the people who are key to my work are kept on my radar? The radar must be focused in all the senses, both to observe the work team, the pressures that they live daily, in the projects and in the reactions that excess work causes. Employees need to know and feel that their leader is there, when they are needed, and not just to make negative remarks.
For the radar to be well focused on all aspects, both at work and at the family level, certain points must be taken into account:
Take an inventory. Who are the people who are under that radar? Keep track of your family members, your work, observe what their needs and priorities are, keep it present in your mind to help you focus your radar.
Write it down. Write for each person that you think you need to follow up on. Make a short list of what you think should enter your radar. If you don't remember what you wrote, reread it to help keep those people and their priorities fresh in your mind. It will also be the beginning so that if you must devote any special attention to a certain person, you give it to them at that time.
Tell people what you need to share with them. This approach puts your intentions in front of your radar screen.
Ask others if you need to remember something in particular. If you are at work, ask your team if you have to keep in mind something that you have not taken into account until that moment, to put it on the radar. Let them remind you when you have lost interest in some of your priorities on your radar. At home, try asking your family members to leave written notes when they need to get some special attention from you. This will help you remember what needs are important to them.
Take some time each day to put the people who are key to you on your radar. It's worth doing that kind of upgrade so your radar doesn't lose attention or break down. It's worth the effort.
