Caring Connection is a dimension in the Leadership Circle Profile that often surprises leaders when they learn what it actually measures.
Caring for the people around you seems an obvious requirement to lead well. But caring is only half the story.
Many leaders are surprised to learn they score low on Caring Connection - even when they pride themselves on doing all they can for their people.
As the name indicates, Caring Connection is a two-part competency that involves:
✅Caring: displaying kindness and concern for others.
✅Connection: a relationship in which a person or thing is linked with something or someone else.
Leaders will "do" the Caring but forget about (or pull back from) the Connection. Caring Connection requires empathy and concern for others, but also deep presence and the vulnerability to let others in.
If you care for others but don't let others care for you, it's not Caring Connection - true in leadership and in life.
When I debrief a leader with generally solid Relating scores, but a low score for Caring Connection, one of the first questions I ask is, "what is your relationship with asking for help or letting others care for you?"
More often than not, they learned early that you show Care by doing for others AND never asking the same in return. Care only flows one way.
The leadership experiment we design often involves finding opportunities to ask for help (even if they don’t think they need it). Keep the gift of Care and build the muscle of Connection.
When these two elements coexist, it is transformational.