The Ripple Effect of Leadership: From Office to Home
May 30, 2024Season 1Episode 41
Colby Morris
Can one leader's actions truly transform both a workplace and a home? In this episode of Things Leaders Do, we explore the profound ripple effects of leadership, showing how the actions of a leader reverberate through their team and even extend into their employees' personal lives. Host Colby Morris dives into real-life examples like Jane, a marketing manager who boosts her team's morale through acknowledgment and positive reinforcement, contrasted with Tom, a sales manager whose constant criticism creates a demoralized workforce. We uncover how the way leaders treat their teams can make or break the work environment, affecting everything from motivation to engagement.
But the impact of leadership extends beyond the office. Learn how workplace satisfaction influences home life through stories such as Sarah, who brings her workplace positivity home, compared to Mike, whose demanding boss strains his household. Finally, we discuss the long-term effects of leadership on future generations, emphasizing the importance of mentoring to create a culture of strong, future leaders. Subscribe and share if you find value in our insights, and don't hesitate to reach out with questions or suggestions for future episodes. Join us in becoming the leaders the world truly needs by practicing empathy, integrity, and effective leadership principles.
Can one leader's actions truly transform both a workplace and a home? In this episode of Things Leaders Do, we explore the profound ripple effects of leadership, showing how the actions of a leader reverberate through their team and even extend into their employees' personal lives. Host Colby Morris dives into real-life examples like Jane, a marketing manager who boosts her team's morale through acknowledgment and positive reinforcement, contrasted with Tom, a sales manager whose constant criticism creates a demoralized workforce. We uncover how the way leaders treat their teams can make or break the work environment, affecting everything from motivation to engagement.
But the impact of leadership extends beyond the office. Learn how workplace satisfaction influences home life through stories such as Sarah, who brings her workplace positivity home, compared to Mike, whose demanding boss strains his household. Finally, we discuss the long-term effects of leadership on future generations, emphasizing the importance of mentoring to create a culture of strong, future leaders. Subscribe and share if you find value in our insights, and don't hesitate to reach out with questions or suggestions for future episodes. Join us in becoming the leaders the world truly needs by practicing empathy, integrity, and effective leadership principles.
Welcome to Things Leaders Do, the podcast that uncovers the secrets of becoming an extraordinary leader. If you're a leader who's constantly seeking growth, inspiration and tangible ways to level up your leadership, then you've come to the right place. Remember, the world needs exceptional leaders, and that leader is you. Now here's your host, colby Morris.
Speaker 2:
Welcome to Things Leaders Do, the podcast, where we explore actionable steps that leaders can take to become better leaders faster. I'm your host, colby Morris, and today I'm going to look into a topic that every leader should actually be aware of the ripple effect. I'll be illustrating the far-reaching impacts of a single leader's actions on their direct reports, their families and, yes, even future generations. Have you ever tossed a stone into a pond or a lake and just kind of watched how the ripples spread out in all the directions? That's precisely how a leader's actions impact everyone around them. Today, we'll discuss three major points to illustrate the profound ripple effect of leadership. First, let's talk about the most obvious group affected by a leader's actions their direct reports. When a leader makes decisions, provides feedback or models behavior, these actions have an immediate impact on their team. Think of it this way If a leader consistently recognizes their reward as good performance, what happens? Employees feel valued, they feel motivated. Conversely, if a leader often criticizes or rarely praises, well, that's going to lead to a demoralized and a very disengaged team. Let's look at let's call her Jane. Jane's a marketing manager who always takes time to acknowledge her team's effort. She gives credit publicly and offers constructive feedback, but privately. Her team feels appreciated and is motivated to perform at their best. But on the other hand, we have Tom Tom's, a sales manager who only points out mistakes and rarely praises his team. His team members feel what undervalued and, yes, yes, they're going to be more likely to leave the company, leave the organization. The immediate impact of a leader's actions sets the tone for the team's culture and it sets the tone for their performance. The positive reinforcement creates a positive work environment, while constant criticism can lead to a toxic workplace. I think all of us have a pretty good idea about what those toxic workplaces look like, unfortunately, and nobody wants to work there, and I know you've heard this term. Positive reinforcement no, we're not talking about your kids, we're talking about grown adults. We're talking about people who still need to be praised at work. People still need that. Now let's take it a step further the impact on the families of direct reports. Yeah, it might not be immediately apparent, but the workplace environment significantly affects the employees' home lives and all of you probably know this by now. See, when employees are happy and satisfied at work, they bring positivity home. They're more likely to engage with their families, participate in activities, contribute to the household. They are more pleasant to be around and they're present. They're not distracted. They can be mentally and emotionally present with those that they love.
Speaker 2:
Conversely, well, stress and dissatisfaction at work leads to a negative home environment, and I get it. These are large generalities, but for the most part they are true. We've all seen what it looks like when you come home to a negative home environment. Okay, the stressed. You know that old saying is that hurt people hurt people. It's the same thing. If you're stressed out at work, if you're always on the short end of things, you're feeling disrespected. A lot of times, people bring that home.
Speaker 2:
I want you to imagine Sarah, whose boss is supportive and encouraging Okay, she comes home happy, she shares her day positively with her family. She has the energy to engage with her kids Okay, this creates a nurturing and loving environment where her children feel valued, they feel supported. But Mike, whose boss is demanding and critical see, mike brings his work stress home and he has strange relationships and a tense household environment and atmosphere. Okay, what does that look like? You know what it looks like. He's irritable, he's not patient, he's emotionally drained and that impacts his interactions with his spouse and his children. Hey, I'm not judging here. I have been. I've been Mike before. I have come home with absolutely zero left in my tank and nothing left to give to my wife and to my kids. I did not like that version of Colby. I did not like who I was at that time, but it took me a while to figure out what I needed to do to be able to change that.
Speaker 2:
Okay Y'all, the ripple effect here is so children in a household where a parent is consistently stressed, they develop anxiety and behavioral issues. They can struggle in school. They can have difficulty forming healthy relationships. See, over time these effects can shape their personality and even their future interactions. Leaders need to realize that their behavior at work doesn't just stay at work. It travels home with their employees and it affects their personal lives significantly. When was the last time and be honest, when was the last time that you thought of it that way? When was the last time you looked at that direct report and wondered what they were like when they got home? Did they have anything left? Do they tell good or bad stories about you? Do their kids know how great a leader you are? Or does their wife know how much they can't stand you, it is home. Positive leadership leads to a nurturing family environment. I was going to say can, but you know what it just does? It fosters the development of confident, well-adjusted children. Okay, on the opposite, toxic leadership can contribute to a cycle of stress, negativity, and that affects the entire family. All right, finally, let's look at the ripple effect on future generations.
Speaker 2:
Leaders influence not just the present but also the future through their actions today. See, when leaders mentor and develop their employees, they're investing in future leaders. Yeah, these employees. They carry forth all the lessons and values they've learned, whether it's to another workplace or where they are. But that just creates a culture of positive leadership. Think of a mentor like David. David invests time in developing his understaff, his junior staff, his understaff, his junior staff. He teaches them not just job skills, but values like I don't know integrity, empathy, resilience, and, believe me, we need to start teaching those things again. These mentees, when they become leaders, they're going to carry forward David's legacy. Okay, they're going to shape a future of generation of leaders who value and practice positive leadership.
Speaker 2:
On the flip side, if a leader fosters a toxic environment, that will also get carried forward in the future. Employees who've experienced poor leadership, have a very likelihood to replicate those negative behaviors when they find themselves in a leadership position, and all that does is create a cycle of toxic leadership. Moreover, I don't really like that word. Moreover, I don't know what else fit right there but the children of employees influenced by positive leaders are likely to develop strong values and leadership skills themselves. Did you hear that? The children of employees influenced by positive leadership? They're going to develop strong values and leadership skills? Why? Because they observe their parents. Their parents bring home positivity, support. They learn the importance of empathy, hard work and respect. These children are the ones that grew up to be the leaders of tomorrow. They're the ones that continue the cycle of positive influence. So, as you know, we have to have a tool. How can leaders ensure that they create positive ripple effects rather than the negative ones?
Speaker 2:
I'm going to give you a couple actionable steps. The first one regularly take time to really reflect on your actions and their impacts. Ask yourself did my behavior today affect my team? Did I lift them up or did I bring them down? In other words, did I make my team better today? You need to seek feedback from your team to really understand how they perceive your actions and then adjust accordingly. And yes, you may not like their feedback, but in this moment it's about being vulnerable and real. Okay, and then you need to make it a habit to recognize and appreciate your team's efforts. Okay, positive reinforcement it not only boosts morale, but it sets a standard for how each team member should treat each other.
Speaker 2:
Okay, you have to recognize your high performers. You want the high performers getting the recognition. Why? Because if you start recognizing the low performers, your high performers don't want to be there. They know who the low performers are. You need to provide constructive feedback in a supportive manner. Okay, and you need to do that behind a closed door. Focus on helping your team grow rather than just pointing out the mistakes. Okay, anybody can just criticize, but as a leader, you have to have a growth mindset. And then I want you to encourage continuous learning and development. Support your team and make sure they're pursuing opportunities to grow in their personal growth, their personal abilities, enhancing their skills, and you do that by really leading by example. Show your own commitment to self-improvement. Encourage your team to follow in what you're doing. Okay, by doing all these things, leaders can create a positive ripple effect that not only benefits their direct reports, but also extends to their families and future generations.
Speaker 2:
I'm going to tell you one last tool tool and I hit on it all the time, but I'm going to be very specific about it next week. You need to make sure you're having a one on one with your direct reports. Okay, if you have less than 10 direct reports, you need to be meeting with them weekly. If you have more than 10, okay, you need to be meeting biweekly, and it needs to be very specific. But you need to make sure you're connecting with your team on a regular basis. Okay, we're not grilling them in the one-on-ones, that's not what it's about. But it's about making sure that they like their job. It's making sure they know who you are, that you know who they are, that they have an ability and an opportunity to grow Okay, and they have possibilities of advancement Okay. All that we'll cover in the one-on-one next week, but you need to be having your one-on-one, all right. Well, that's all for today's episode of Things.
Speaker 2:
Leaders Do? I really hope this discussion about the ripple effect of leadership has given you some insights about the reaching impact of your actions as a leader. Remember, every action you take creates ripple effects that extend far beyond your immediate sphere of influence, but it is up to you to determine what types of ripple effects those are. Are they positive or are they negative? Hey, I want to thank everybody for for joining me. It's been a labor of love, a passion project, if you will, this, uh, this podcast, and I really appreciate everyone who keeps reaching out to me on LinkedIn having some great conversations. So, again, thank you for tuning in. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, share it with others who might benefit from it. Okay, and as always, feel free to reach out with any questions or topics you'd like me to cover in the future episodes you'd like me to cover in the future episodes. Until next time, keep leading with empathy and integrity, and you know why? Because those are the things that leaders do.
Speaker 1:
Thank you for listening to Things Leaders Do. If you're looking for more tips on how to be a better leader, be sure to subscribe to the podcast and listen to next week's episode. Until next time, keep working on being a better leader by doing the things that leaders do.
