When you’re leading, you’re a tuning fork. When a tuning fork vibrates, everything around it begins responding. During transformation, employees become extraordinarily sensitive to what their leaders are experiencing and they tune right in.
They notice what makes you tense. They notice what questions you avoid. They notice whether you sound convinced or whether you’re repeating language you don’t quite believe or understand yourself.
This is why one of the first responsibilities of leaders going through transformation is to work through any uncertainty themselves. Not to eliminate it; that’s impossible.
But, identify the issues that are causing anxiety, dig into them and reach enough resolution that you can lead confidently in the direction you are asking others to travel.
People listen to what leaders say, but they also listen to the tone underneath the words. And that signal travels much more effectively through an organization than most leaders realize.
