Why Leaders Must Be “ON” All The Time

As a leader do you feel like you are “on” all the time while at work, or interacting with employees or customers? You should.

Leaders must operate as if he or she are living in a fish bowl. Everyone on the outside can look in and watch you.

Every interaction with every colleague, employee and customer, matters and has a spill over effect.  Whether you leave a positive impression or a negative impression, that effect will be shared with others…verbally, electronically or even on social media.

• Being “on” means that you are consciously thinking about your words, behaviors and body language.
• When you are “on”, you are thinking about what you say before you say it.
• Feeling “on” means pausing before you send an email response and thinking about how the recipient will receive the message.

Yes, leaders have bad moods and stressful days. But, we need to be deliberate to buffer others from experiencing the negative side effects.

I enjoyed this related blog post called “Life in the Fishbowl”, by Brian Gora. I also came across a new catch phrase, from S. Chris Edmonds, “bumping the fish bowl”. This reference describes how leaders’ behavior is often much more impactful to their team members’ confidence, engagement, cooperation, and performance than leaders believe.

Rumi wrote, “Your acts of kindness are iridescent wings of divine love, which linger and continue to uplift others long after your sharing.”

© 2019 – 2020, Marci Reynolds. All rights reserved.