If you’re reading this, then it’s a safe assumption that you want to make a positive impact on those around you. I assume this because my community consists of high-level leaders who are passionate about empowering, motivating, and inspiring those they lead, both professionally and personally.
It’s also a safe assumption that if you’re reading this, you’re often juggling many balls at once and need to keep up with the fast pace of life at work and at home.
And with this fast-moving pace, sometimes your intent does not align with your impact.
I was working with a senior leader of a major tech company whose intent was to inspire her team to be visionaries and to always find the positive opportunity in any challenge. Her upbeat attitude matched her fast thinking to solve problems quickly.
While sometimes her intent to inspire visionary thinking and opportunity creation from challenges aligned with her impact, sometimes it did not.
Sometimes her impact left others feeling left behind as a result of her fast thinking. Some of her team members preferred a slower pace to analyze the root cause of problems before creating a solution.
And because of her preference for optimism and positivity, she had unintentionally created an environment where others didn’t feel comfortable sharing what wasn’t working for them in fear of being viewed as negative or pessimist.
Another leader I was working with is the CEO at an aerospace company. His intent was to be clear, concise, and direct in order to be efficient and avoid ambiguity. He wanted the team to feel motivated by always knowing what to do and how to do it.
While the team appreciated the leader’s direct approach, sometimes the unintended impact was that members felt micro-managed or controlled, leaving little room for autonomy and experimenting with their own ideas.
In both cases, the leaders had positive intent, yet sometimes the impact was misaligned.
What is the best way to ensure that your intent is in alignment with your impact?
The answer is simple, yet not always easy.
The best way to see if there is intent and impact alignment is to share your intent and ask others if that is the impact that they’re experiencing.
In other words, ask for feedback from those you’re impacting.
Asking for feedback is not always easy because it involves a level of vulnerability and openness to hear what you may not want or expect to hear.
However, continuing to have your impact be far off from your intent is worse than the edginess of asking for feedback.
Gathering feedback is a skill set. And like any skill set, the more you practice it, the better you’ll get.
In both case studies I shared, I encouraged the leaders to share with their teams their intent and to ask if that was the impact they were experiencing.
The team members gave feedback and concrete examples of when the intent and impact was aligned, and when it wasn’t.
And that led to productive conversations on how the leader can “course correct” when intent and impact were misaligned.
The objective is not so much to have a perfect track record of intent and impact alignment, as it is to focus on the process of being mindful if alignment is taking place.
Focusing on the process of sharing your intent and asking for feedback if that is the impact others are experiencing, will surely help improve relationships and communication.
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