One of the features that differentiate good leaders from average bosses is their ability for building a happy community of workers. When such leaders create the environment for a healthy community to evolve, the upside is a high-performing team. 

It's having leaders in place who have a level of faith to say, "I'm going to foster the environment for such a culture of caring to develop" and by example, others catch on and it spreads outwardly.

So what does building community really look like? How do you turn this idea of building community into action that leads to good business outcomes?

It's all about the relationships

First of all, for work communities to stand strong and thrive, it has to be founded on a culture of personal relationships. This means people have to invest time with each other to learn who they really are and what makes them tick.

In turn, this produces great collaboration. It's a team effort, and nobody wins at the expense of the team. Leaders guiding such a team make sure that differences are valued and respected; that there's a diversity of opinions, ideas and perspectives.

There are clear indicators that make these communities stand out through their work relationships. Here are four noticeable habits you'll find in their employees:

1. They practice listening

I can't stress enough the importance of listening in developing strong relationships. Here's what happens: Somewhere along the way into adulthood, we tend to stop listening and learning from others. In fact, it's worse than that. 

We start telling everybody what to do – and then we call it leadership. Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. The only way you're going to open up the door for good work relationships to flourish is to learn to listen – listen to the contributions and ideas of others.

2. They get to know about each other's lives

How well do you know the people in your teams? Do you know the events of their lives that have shaped who they are today?

I mean, if you're going to be spending the better part of the week working on a project, you might want to get to know them well. Do you know their dreams for the future? 

Their strengths, their passions, their gifts, and what they bring to the table beyond what's "on paper"? You'll be surprised at how much more talent you may have on a team that will benefit the company in new ways. 

To really get to know the people around you, create margin in your daily routine to spend time with them, and not for your own personal gain. This is about investing time with your most valued employees and colleagues to learn who they really are.

There's also tremendous benefit in building personal relationships in a community when someone moves to a different company.

When you need a favor, a resource or a contact, you can reach out to others and they will reciprocate – there's history, respect and trust there from previously working together. There is tremendous networking power when you establish community that will last for years.

3. They celebrate together

You can't have strong communities if you don't celebrate accomplishments along the way – big and small. Celebrations can be personal or professional in nature; they can be individual or team celebrations.

Never stop looking for ways to celebrate life together – that's the essence of community. Think about it now: What have you or what will you accomplish together, that's a cause for celebration?

4. They are transparent with each other

Whatever your medium for connecting with others remotely, it should be a place where you talk about work and share wins, ideas, challenges and concerns and get as close as you can to replicating the experience of being in an office together. There's a sense of togetherness there.

But here's the thing: Transparency and trust are key in developing virtual communities. What you share with one, you share with all. And it starts with leaders modeling the behaviors of trust and transparency.

Conclusion

There's tremendous power in building community at work. And the reason it's so important is that people are naturally wired for relationships – it's what science has proven to be the catalyst for driving human performance. 

When leaders pave the way for close community to happen, expect this cycle to happen: Trust increases, morale improves, collaboration soars and productivity will reach new heights.

Inc