Teach & Serve IV, No. 18
Intent vs. Impact, What Happens Next?
December 5, 2018
When impacts do not match up to intent, good leaders act again. Good leaders are aware that what they say does not always “land” how they intend it to land.
If you are reading this blog you are likely an educational professional, a leader in a school. Every adult in a school is a leader one way or another. And, if you are in a school, you work in a complex system that is influenced by the desires, moods, emotions and wants of – literally – hundreds of people on any given day. Students influence the system as do parents and administrators and teachers. Likely, as an educational leader, you have been in the position of addressing a particular audience or you have had an interaction with a singular person. In that interaction you either had time to prepare your comments or you did not; you were either ready for the conversation or you were caught flatfooted by it. Whatever the particular case, you said something or did something and that action had results.
Let us bracket, for the purposes of this post, all of the situations that came out well – likely the majority of such situations. These are times when the impact of our words or actions matches our intent. Instead, let us consider the ones that did not go well. These are the times when our intents and impacts do not line up.
Whether we have had time to prepare or not, what we say has impact. How we act towards others has impact. How we conduct ourselves as leaders has impact.
When impacts do not match up to intent, good leaders act again. Good leaders are aware that what they say does not always “land” how they intend it to land. They reflect on contacts with others. They approach this reflection knowing that not everything goes the way they hope it does.
And they share those conclusions. Good leaders are able to analyze difficult situations – those created by their own impacts on others – and follow up on them with further information, with deeper clarification and with honest communication.
Good leaders recognize that the impacts they have in whatever they say and do (and Tweet and post) can be unintended and disconnected from their intent. And they recognize, if they wish to maintain rapport and trust and faith, that they must own these situations when they occur.
Good leaders realize when negative impacts are their fault. Then, knowing they created the situations in the first place, they work to fix them.
Readily.