Leadership and Return on Investment, some thoughts

[My upcoming book deals with managers at a leadership conference. In self-reflecting about ROI after a breakout session, a leader captures these thoughts]:

About being a boss and buddy: my group doesn't share too much of their lives with me and I'm not sure they would? I always thought of it as unprofessional. I realized I do have that kind of a close relationship with my own boss. And without that trusted relationship and mentor-ship I would not have survived in the company, and through my divorce.

Networking, Socializing and Trust - While I have some professional relationships, I also know that I could improve those relationships with peers and other employees in the company. There are numerous instances where my lack of relationship with a co-worker caused problems and possibly a lack of support.

Other people in the company seem to have an easier time getting things done; maybe that is why...

Wondering if I invested in meaningful relationships and developing rapport and trust with people, would I be a more effective leader? How would this behavior modification produce tangible results? Need to crunch some numbers to prove to myself.

The amount of time I spend having to inspect every result(s) throughout the day and having to go make corrections during the day. I am always on my team to produce the right results and felt I couldn't trust them without watching them throughout the day. I easily spend 25% of my day doing this kind of inspection. What would I do with 25% percent of my workday freed up?

If I develop professional relationships on the basis of trust, connection and genuine respect for people I could easily free up 80% of my inspecting time to work on relationships, employee engagement in problem solving and process improvements to have the people doing the work accountable for their performance with scorecards that reflect their performance. With an established relationship(s) I would be able to effectively coach and develop my team to focus on the department productivity.

Other beneficial examples come quickly to mind as I think of how interdepartmental improvements could be made with positive financial results.

The Great Eight Leadership Conference: COMMUNICATE, RELATE, EVALUATE,
CREATE, ELIMINATE, ACCOMMODATE, FACILITATE, DEMONSTRATE