ON LEADERSHIP || This One Thing You are Doing as a Leader is Bringing Your Team Down
Leaders are expected to have the vision, energy, and charisma to carry the team from A to B and to motivate the team on a daily basis.
Teams look to the leader to provide the direction for the company, so sometimes as a leader, you might feel as if you need to have all the answers. However, being the smartest person in the room with all the answers isn’t what is going to propel your team forward and inspire your team members to be at their best. So what is it that makes the difference between a team that is motivated and in tune with their leader?
If you are the one at the helm steering the ship, are you self-conscious of your energy levels when you’re in the office? If you come in feeling and looking sluggish, it rubs off on your team. They weren’t joking when they said a person’s energy is contagious. The one thing you should do as a leader is to manage your emotions (and the resulting energy you emit in the workplace).
Don’t ignore the trickle down effect of emotions in the workplace.
For example, if you are in a client meeting and you show signs of impatience or frustration toward a client, then your team will also feel that it’s ok to do so in their interactions with a client. If you stay in that state of being frustrated and continue to fume about that one meeting throughout the day, that energy is going to propagate and trickle down to how your team carries on with their day.
It’s like when one person yawns in the room and that triggers a domino effect for other people in the room to yawn.
Stress and anxiety from meeting client deadlines, delivering on campaign results…these are all issues that we deal with every day, but how you react to this will determine how effective of a leader you can be. Here are some concrete actions I use to coach my team through stressful times:
Smile when you’re resolving client problems. It’s like when children fall down, if you immediately show that you’re very worried they will instantly start crying. As a leader, if you are calm and composed when big issues arise, your team feels the situation is in control (let’s face it, internally we’re probably having a meltdown).
Alleviate anxiety with the pace and intonation of your voice. Have you ever been on a call or in a meeting with someone where you can hear and feel the anxiety in their voice? When this happens, you can take the lead in resetting the tone of the conversation by consciously taking on a more relaxed tone in your voice, and also by speaking more slowly. Think of it as playing soothing music for the other party to help calm them down — it will likely result in a more productive meeting!
If you’re going on an emotional rollercoaster yourself throughout the day, be aware that you are also taking your team along for the ride. Just like some people get a writing coach, you may want to invest in a business coach or presentation coach to help manage your presence in a team. How you conduct yourself has a far-reaching impact on how your team performs.
