Making emotional connections with those who matter the most: your employees

Businesses often pay special attention to interactions with clients and customers. In fact, many companies have a function related specifically to that task – customer relationship management. Organizations spend thousands of man hours and significant portions of their budget trying to improve the way they deal with customers.

However, it's crucial that customers aren't the only people business leaders spend time connecting with. It's equally important they develop emotional connections with their employees, the people who matter most to the success of a business.

Business managers and executives looking to improve their abilities as leaders should start with their aptitude for developing emotional relationships. Here are three tips for forging these kinds of connections with your employees:

1. Give employees your full attention

Business leaders have busy schedules and a million things to do at once. Still, your employees should always come first. When they have a problem, question or are just making small talk, try to give them your undivided attention. This small step may be simple, but engaging employees to the best of your ability can make them want to do more for you.

2. Stay positive

Emotions are contagious. When deadlines are hanging heavily over your head or you're dealing with a client catastrophe, your attitude can easily sour. The people you deal with will be affected by this.

“Research has shown that a person's mood can be affected even by three degrees of separation from people they don't even know,” Harvard Business Review adds. “So imagine your impact in the workplace on those who report to you directly. Whether positive or negative, your emotional state has a significant influence on those you work with, especially when you're the boss.”

3. Become extroverted

Some people prefer to keep to themselves, and that's OK. However, being a leader is just as much about your inherent job skills as it is dealing with other people. When you're managing others, you need to be able to reach out and engage them. People model their work ethic after their leaders, and one of the best ways to spawn a collaborative work environment is by reaching out to everyone.