Today a team member overstepped their authority with a client that you had to repair. It took hours out of a critical project and damaged your reputation with the client.
The incident was the catalyst for several significant leadership errors by you later in the day.
First, you lost your cool with the team member. Later, in a meeting with a colleague you were distracted, misinterpreted a comment and became defensive and argumentative. Just before leaving for the day, you ignored a vendor who stopped by your office. Turns out the vendor went out of their way to personally deliver the prototype to you ahead of schedule.
That was quite the day.
In retrospect, you may assess you had a negative impact on three people. I think you had a much greater negative impact.
Why? Because as a leader your impact travels well beyond your direct interactions.
Let’s make it personal.
Imagine a split screen in front of you. On the left the best leader you ever directly worked with and on the right the worst.
How did each of them make you feel?
I will guess thinking about them brought up some emotions.
Did you ever talk about those leaders?
Where and when?
You probably talked about them at work, lunch, dinner, and social events. Individuals in the workplace love to talk about their leaders and the impact they are having on them. Positive or negative.
Leaders impact your thoughts, mood, and interactions in and outside of the workplace.
Here is a personal story about a negative leader I experienced. He was the leader of six high performing capable direct reports. We were all colleagues, with significant responsibilities. Our weekly meetings with the boss were a source of stress. We knew one of us was going to be made an example of at the meeting. It happened every week. One of us would get called out and put under a negative spotlight for not making numbers or some other challenge. He always focused on problems and negative events.
How far do you think his negative impact reached?
It was well beyond his direct reports. When we left that meeting, we would all go into our silos and talk to our counterparts.
For me, I talked to other folks in the organization and even my wife about his impact. Due to the treatment from this leader, it affected my mood and interactions. I know I uncharacteristically pushed my direct reports. Who may have pushed their direct reports.
Let’s estimate the scale of your leadership impact. Here is an exercise to visualize and quantify the breadth and depth of your impact.
- Start with the number of your direct reports. Then the number of their direct reports. Quantify that number.
- Quantify your colleagues and other stakeholders you interact with regularly. What is that number?
- Now estimate the secondary effects.
- Those secondary relationships are people your colleagues and stakeholders interact with such as other colleagues, associates, or family members. Estimate that number
You now probably have a good estimate of the number of folks you impact directly and indirectly.
When I do this exercise with a group of mid-level leaders the numbers always top one hundred.
As the top leader of an organization, you directly impact every member; Your direct reports most significantly. A small business owner impacts every employee and their family. They have an impact on investors, suppliers, and customers.
If you are a school principal your interactions impact your faculty and staff, students, parents, the board, and other administrators in your district.
You just increased your self-awareness around who you influence and how. Your circle of impact is similar to a pebble in a calm pond. The circles reach out very far with big waves in close and smaller further away.
Consider the impact you are making beyond your direct reports. Are the conversations about you and your leadership in the lunch room, in meetings, and at dinner tables positive? If not, how can you change that?
