Creating Space to Lead the Ripple Effect

Leading With VOICCE® Series.

"Ty, ensure your people feel supported - no matter what. We fail together, we rise together, and no matter what, we stand together." This was my personal mantra during some of my most difficult career moments.

This mantra emerged during one particularly challenging project. I was leading an individual who'd stepped in as my successor to lead the project. We were doing work that was both exciting and ambiguous. We often set out with big dreams, huge goals, and no clear roadmap for how to achieve success. We were supported by leadership and cross-functional teams that were equally dedicated to the mission. But when things went wrong, they REALLY went wrong.

Technology failed, resources were limited, and the outcomes were, in fact, NOT coming out as we'd expected.

I felt the stress, but I also knew any strategy meeting I walked into would feel my energy. As the more tenured member of the project, I knew our team members were watching me, and most importantly, my direct report, who had stepped in to take the reins, was watching me.

The uncertainty was at times paralyzing and overwhelming. Thankfully, I was already reliant on my mindfulness practice. So, I taught myself to dig deeper. Yes, there was uncertainty, but what else was there? New solutions, possibilities, more insight. So I learned to lean into that. The leaders I was reporting to modeled it, and I found that I could draw from their energy to model it for those reporting to me and to our cross-functional partners as well.

We've all felt it. A leader exudes poise, and we feel a bit more at ease. Conversely, a leader exudes mistrust or constant distress and, almost reflexively, we distance ourselves a bit, or worse, we adopt some of the same energy without even knowing why. Research supports it. It's called emotional contagion.

Sigal Barsade found that one person's mood, including a leader's, measurably and often unconsciously shifts the mood of everyone in the group, which in turn affects things like collaboration, conflict, and decision quality.

I would argue that leaders of people and projects shape the room to a greater degree than the rest of the group. By definition, they are the ones everyone else is looking to for guidance and direction. And more than ever, it's what is NOT being said that translates.

As we face increased change and growing uncertainty, teams are looking to leaders for cues. And energy is just as important a messenger as words and body language.

If mood is that contagious, the real question isn't whether you're shaping the room. You already are, every time you walk into one. The real question is: how are you shaping it - and whether you're doing it with intention?

That's the part within your control.

Three shifts that change what you carry into the room

Shift 1 - Notice what you're carrying before you walk in. Practice a pause that allows you to truly see what you are carrying into any room. Emotions are seldom felt in isolation, but we can choose which ones we lead with. It doesn't mean we ignore the others, but it does mean we practice self-regulation. That's agency.

Shift 2 - Anchor into intention. "How do I want to lead under pressure?" Practice answering this question when pressure builds. As one leader recently said: "No one wakes up in the morning thinking, 'I want to be crappy at my job today.'" It's how we consciously choose to lead that changes the trajectory.

Shift 3 - Borrow the energy you need, and then become it for someone else. I often ask my clients how they want to be described. And then I ask them to name individuals who are already demonstrating those qualities. Never has a leader struggled to name others who exude the qualities they admire. Borrow the energy from another great example of poise, calm, or resilience, and then model the behavior for those who are leaning on you.

Every leader shapes the room. Pressure just makes it visible. We can let that shaping happen by accident, or we can choose how we ripple outward. How will you choose the next time the pressure is on?

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Tian Philson - Leadership Transformation & Decision-Making Coach | Creator of the VOICCE® Decision Making & Empowerment Framework | Helping leaders go inward so they can go upward.