People can feel your intention before they hear your words. That’s why intention is the deal breaker. You can have all the pieces as we have explained through this blog series:
…but if you are missing the final piece: The Right Intention, the intention behind your conversation is wrong, the conversation will fail. Because people don’t respond to what you say. They respond to what they believe you’re trying to do. And you may not realize this, but intention is hard to fake. There is an innate human ability in many of us to detect the fake stuff when it shows up. Remember, real influence is about others experiences and perceptions about your leadership styles, not what you think they are.
Here’s how intention shows up in leadership on both sides:
Result: people defend.
Result: people comply (temporarily), then disengage.
Result: people feel shamed.
Result: people stop trusting you.
And here’s the toughest part: Most leaders don’t think they’re doing any of those things. And this is because a leader wants to be everything (to keep their job). But they can not and only through this transparency can their leadership truly flourish.
Here is what we see happen when there is misalignment on a team:
Leaders say they want alignment, but they’re actually trying to regain control.
Leaders say they want improvement, but they’re actually trying to relieve their own frustration.
Leaders say they want the truth, but they only want it if it matches their expectations.
People feel that. And when people feel your intention is self-serving, they’ll stop being honest. They’ll give you the version of reality that keeps them safe. That’s when leadership becomes illusion. And it all begins because you are not willing to take responsibility for your role in all of it
You think: Everything looks fine. But the truth disappears.
Now let’s talk about the intention that changes everything. The intention to create alignment and ownership.
That intention sounds like:
“I’m committed to the team winning.”
“I’m committed to you being successful.”
“I’m committed to truth, not control.”
“I’m committed to our standards.”
This is the intention that gives people courage. And it’s not soft. It’s demanding because it requires leaders to prioritize the relationship and the outcome over their own comfort.
If your intention is clean, your tone will shift.
If your intention is clean, your timing will improve.
If your intention is clean, you’ll stop talking around issues and start naming them.
This is where leadership stops being performance and becomes presence. Because people don’t follow perfect leaders. They follow leaders whose intention is trustworthy. So if your team is withholding, resisting, or saying yes but doing nothing… ask yourself:
What do they think my intention is?
That answer will tell you everything.
Take control of your destiny by working on the right things that are going to get you the results you crave.
Lead Your Legacy is going to relieve tons of stress from your life, so that you can come to work eager to do some good in the world and leave knowing you made a difference. Your team is going to gratefully join you on board a new vision for success. You can now enjoy more meaningful and increasingly positive relationships with your employees – even the ones you’ve had a hard time reaching in the past.
Best of all, you can leave your work at work and enjoy your personal life outside of your business.
The financial investment is small, but imagine how much value you will get from finally being able to effectively lead and manage a happy, engaged and effective team. All we ask is that you try it out and do the work. We offer a 100% money-back guarantee. The only thing you have to lose are those inhibitions that hold you back in your business.
