Mixed Messages

On my way to Webcor’s San Francisco office to facilitate the fourth and final Management Essentials pilot session I was nearly hit by a car. Lost in thought about the topics of the day I saw a green walk sign out of the corner of my eye and took a step into the street. Luckily, I was aware enough to quickly see a red hand don’t walk sign and paused, feeling the wind of a car whistling by in front of me. This mixed message nearly cost me everything. Look closely at the picture above to see how, lost in thought, I made this mistake.

Are you sending mixed messages to your team? If you are, I’m sure it’s not intentional. Maybe you talk about work life balance and accomplishing tasks yet give praise to someone in a team meeting because they stayed late to complete an assignment. Maybe you tout the positive impact of active listening on trust but then fail to turn and face someone who asked for a moment of your time.

Leading others is challenging. Modeling great behavior takes time and attention and a level of consistency that goes beyond the podium. I’m not suggesting the need to be perfect. What I am suggesting is the need to be aware of how your behavior can positively or negatively impact the items you say are important and the goals you set. An offhand comment at the coffee pot about the delivery being delayed without first letting Marketing know may contradict your recent calls for transparency.

Here are three ways that you can work to eliminate sending mixed messages to the people you lead:

1.??????Work to better understand yourself, your preferences, your tendencies. Self-awareness is the first critical step towards emotional intelligence. Understanding what makes you tick enables you to more accurately predict how your actions might be interpreted by others.

2.??????Invite others to call you in when they see or feel a contradiction. The #1 Trust behavior according to Stephen M.R. Covey is Talk Straight. By asking others to keep you honest, and making it safe to do so, you’ll not only better understand if your actions aren’t matching your words, but you’ll also build trust.

3.??????Work toward simplicity. The fewer goals you have the easier it will be for you to remain consistent. The fewer goals you have the easier it will be for you to reinforce and redirect behaviors that align with them. Try to limit the number of issues that drive you to correct or praise others. Work to whittle hot button issues down to the most critical for organizational success. If everything is important nothing is important.

Though the mixed messages you send to your team aren’t necessary life or death, they are fatal to your ability to effectively lead. Though they may not cause you to lose everything, they certainly will cause you to lose trust. Be aware of your surroundings. Be intentional with how you step. Be conscious of the warning signs. Work to understand yourself, invite others to call you in, and work towards simplicity. Also, keep your wits about you when walking in the city, look left, then right, then left again before crossing the street.

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