So much to be grateful for …

Leadership

Mar 29

3 minute read

At FiveAndCo. we’ve just celebrated our three-year anniversary, and what a three years it has been. Like everyone else we’ve navigated a series of unexpected challenges, made changes to our direction of travel, and constantly reminded ourselves of the need to be fleet of foot and agile in our approach.

Looking back, we’re enormously grateful to the people we’ve met along the way. What really makes us tick is the company we keep, the work we do and the people we are honoured to call clients.

It’s a bit of a cliché when you hear organisations say, ‘our people are our most valuable asset’ (and often galling when you see how their people are treated). At FiveAndCo. we believe it’s the relationships we have with people that are our most valuable asset - both internal and external. Sure, it’s all about people, but for us it’s the relationship we have with them that makes the difference.

One of our values at FiveAndCo. is ‘Keep it real’. So, when we talk about relationships, we’re not suggesting something for the sake of it. It’s not about fluff. It’s about substance; being authentic with people, and bringing out the authenticity in them.

For those of you who know us well, we hope you recognise we are there when you need us and there isn’t a time when we start the meter at the outset of a conversation. We know that to do our job in helping more teams thrive each and every day, we need to work hard to deepen and strengthen the relationships that matter.

Putting relationships first has served us well. And it’s made us think about how that plays out more broadly for leaders.

Investing in deepening relationships with team members, colleagues, peers, stakeholders, and clients pays dividends. It shouldn’t be seen as an optional extra and something left to ‘those with greater empathy than me’. It’s a critical leadership competency and one we truly hope more leaders spend more time working on.

“It’s about substance; being authentic with people, and bringing out the authenticity in them.”

We’re advocating for leaders to know more about the people around them. We encourage leaders to ask great questions and think about what they can learn from others, before they start telling people about themselves.

We talk about the incredible power of the One-on-One with your boss. Too many leaders assume the One-on-One is an optional meeting that can be moved, deleted or postponed to make way for other, apparently more important meetings. Trust us when we say that our clients consistently tell us the One-on-One is their most valuable time of the week. And the stronger and deeper the relationship, the more powerful the conversations in that most critical of meetings.

We’ll continue to put relationships front and centre as we move into the next phase of our growth. And we hope more leaders will recognise the benefit of more, deeper, stronger relationships with the people around them.

- Nick Green, FiveAndCo. Director