I can hear you from here! What this love you speak of? You need to rein it in, Ted, on this whole loving leadership thing. You’re not supposed to be loving the employees—it’s the HR handbook! I get it— this can be a new concept for traditional leaders— love and leadership. We’ve grown up seeing leadership as strong, top down and “do as I say,” but there’s room for love. And I am not talking about love as in the emotion but rather love
as behaviors. It’s how we respond to our employees. 3 examples.

Love is paying attention. It’s checking in with your team members, it’s knowing them and their families. You’re not being intrusive— you’re being
attentive. It’s knowing when they’re a bit off or when they need more to be engaged in their work. It’s lifting your head up and looking around.

Love is removing obstacles. Your people will come to you. They will occasionally need your help in their work. It’s NOT doing things for people but when a higher level of authority is required to clear obstacles, that’s where you come in. Don’t miss your opportunity to work for them.

Love is a timely review. Annual reviews are habitually delivered late across all industries. That’s not very loving! What you are saying— whether you realize it or not— is that YOUR review is not important enough to me for me to get it done on it. Show your love—do it on time.