My goodness, how much did I beat myself up in the past for not reaching the audience I thought I might win within days when I started my business because I would provide so much support, warmth, and making friends with a lot of people as a newbie to Canada.
Sound familiar?
Well, I can tell, it’s no bed of roses to start a business, especially coming to a new country, with a foreign language and trying so hard to be someone. But hey, hard work paid off with earning a few more likes and more and more followers.
But did the number of likes and followers bring any money? Hell, no! So, I was wondering when I observed others, seeing how well they do on Social Media, beating their chests about how important they are, who they know, ranting about injustice and having tons of people cheering them: am I doing the right thing? You have a few chats with important people, who say, ‘You should do my online masterclass, then you will succeed’. It felt alienating that I’ve wanted to create genuine connections and had immediately been converted into a sales prospect.
I lost faith. I thought I would need to be that smiley, cheerful, heroic clone to be recognized by society and be the likewise influencer on Social Media, bragging about what I have overcome in the past. I wanted to be like THEM but would not know HOW.
Until I have met one person who said, “You have a superpower. You are an active listener. Very few people have that trait.” (Thanks, Trevor!)
This made me think and I finally understood. Right, yeah! I am listening. And I love to hear what people really feel, what they struggle with, and what inspires them. Therefore, I am a coach – from the bottom of my heart, not for the show. And, in my way. It’s a small thing but it counts a lot.
There are and will be only a few people that recognize this power and comfort I can give to THEM.
But those few are the ones I want to work and deal with. I don’t need 13k followers and 815 likes on every post. I want to have an impact on a few people’s lives because I care.
Bare with me, I know this time the content is a lot about me, but I wanted to make a point here for YOU.
To the readers who can relate to my story and who are struggling to gain traction – here is my message:
Get out of your huffy ego and make it about others with your input, it is not about you!
This care for people will turn into income. Don’t worry about the number of followers! I came across exactly this knowledge in my transitional journey and I am grateful for the few people I work with.
In terms of leadership impact, let me summarize the above as follows:
It Is Not About The Number Of Followers
If you as a leader work with 10 people in your team, those people are your followers by nature. It does not necessarily mean that those people are deeply influenced by you or do what you want. Your followers are any number of people who work for the same company and interest, but the number is not a quality criterion.
It Is Not About The Number Of “Likes”
People you work with and who work for you may like you. This on the other hand does not mean that they agree with what you say or do all the time, or that you have an impact on their lives. Sometimes they may even feel pressured to “like” your ideas, as they are being told by, or seeing, with peers, but it is not sincerely their choice.
Do you get what I am pointing at?
Then get this into your mind:
It Is About The Quality Of Connection
If those 10 team members above get to know you and see that you genuinely care about them and not about your ego and that you pick them up where they are, you’ve probably won.
These are the people that follow your example because they are convinced about what you do. They are inspired by you and want to get and give mutual support because you fill a need that they have.
So, we can say that social media and leadership have a lot in common. It is not about the numbers of people you reach, but about the quality of what you provide for a few of them that can help – with an impact on their life quality.
And vice versa, next time before blindly clicking the follow-button just for consuming content from people you might even feel jealous about how perfect their world appears, you can ask yourself these four questions that mirror the quality of connections on social media for you, and are as well applicable for gauging the quality of the bond between leadership and workforce:
- Can I learn anything?
- Can I help?
- Does it inspire me?
- Is there a personal relationship involved?
Doesn’t this view on being liked, or not, take a whole lot of pressure from your shoulders?
Have fun inspiring, supporting, and meaningfully connecting with each other!
>> If you feel you want to talk about or discuss a similar or different experience, I am listening.
