Small Moments in Leadership

Keep in mind that your everyday actions are influencing people. Even on the smallest scale. People are watching you, noticing you, and taking mental notes of how and why you do things. And mostly, they never tell you.

Here’s Proof

Think about a meeting or event that you attended in the past. Then think about someone that you observed during your time together. It could be one of the speakers, or one of the others at your table, or someone you observed in the hall during a break. Chances are that you can remember something about them because you took a small mental note. Then ask yourself if you mentioned that mental memory bank dictation to them. Chances are that you simply took that mental note, stored it away in the back of your mind and never mentioned it to that person.

Well that is what people are doing to you. And they do it a lot.

Now mostly, these mental notes are probably not that significant and may not make any headlines. But they do add up in peoples’ minds. They add up as an internal portrait of you in the minds of other people. This internal portrait in people’s minds also carries a weighted index of how influential you are to them.

Picture This – Kindness

Imagine that you are attending an important event where many well-known and well-respected people are in attendance. Imagine that you slip out of the meeting to attend to some important business and make your way back to the event through a back hallway. During your trip back, you see the keynote speaker going out of their way to help a needy janitor with a difficult situation. You know by your watch that the speaker doesn’t really have the time to help this person, but they do it anyway.

Contrast This – Rudeness

Now imagine if you had a near-identical experience to the one mentioned above, but instead you saw that same speaker making fun of the janitor who was in a difficult situation rather than helping them. Imagine how different these mental pictures would influence how you thought of this person. Even if they subsequently delivered an exquisite speech that the crowd adored, I bet that you might think differently about the rude speaker than you would about the kind speaker. The kind speaker’s presentation would be viewed with warm optimism while the rude speaker’s presentation would be viewed quite the opposite.

Well, as a leader, you must remember that your actions, in-actions, language, vocal tone, appearance and many more elements about you are being carefully watched and carefully weighed in the minds of others. They are the ones who will determine how influential you are to them. And collectively, all the weighed averages of people’s opinions determine your aggregate level of influence.

My personal motto is this: “Leadership is best viewed through the eyes of the follower.”

Earlier this year we had an 12-year old girl named Jodi Coley at our home for a few hours visiting. During that time, she noticed the decorated bathroom on the main level of the house. She commented on how beautiful she thought the decorations were and how the atmosphere of that small room really captured her imagination. She commented that the seashells and sand really made the room seem summertime fun. (See picture above.)

With this, my wife took the time to explain to the impressionable young lady the fundamentals of interior design and how to put together simple elements like seashell, sand, and grass to create something that evoked “that summertime feeling.” She went on to explain that she takes small pine cones, acorns, colorful leaves, and coffee beans to create an autumn feeling when that season rolls around. With this explanation, Jodi’s whole world of understanding interior design began to take root. She thanked my wife for taking the time to explain and began to ask many more questions on the subject.

When I asked Jodi about this experience a month or so later, she expressed how much that moment impacted her and how she was going to make her bathrooms in her house when she gets older into seasonal places of beauty. When I asked her what she thought of my wife for teaching this, you can imagine her appreciation.

Perspective

To my wife, this educational moment was just a blip in time that will probably be forgotten soon enough. But to Jodi, this may stay with her forever and help influence how she approaches her life of making her surroundings (and maybe those of others) more appealing.

Never forget how important small moments in leadership can effect people. They are watching and taking note. Understand this as power and use it responsibly.

How are you taking small moments to help create a brighter future for people around you? How are you looking at your actions and behaviors in terms of other people’s opinions? How can you keep a healthy balance of what others think about you and how that impacts you? I would love to hear about your small moments in leadership!

—————————————————————–
Tom Schulte is Executive Director of Linked 2 Leadership &
CEO of Recalibrate Professional Development in Atlanta, GA USA.
He can be reached at [email protected]

Image Source: Brenda’s Powder Room