Captain’s Log on Leadership and Team Building: You Just Never Know
Some time back at a Toastmasters Club meeting a speaker had just finished his presentation and round robin critiques were underway. Another attendee, Toastmasters World Championship Finalist Rich Hopkins rose to offer his critique: “The audience won’t care about you until they know how much you care about them.” Brilliant!
Some time back at a Toastmasters Club meeting a speaker had just finished his presentation and round robin critiques were underway. Another attendee, Toastmasters World Championship Finalist Rich Hopkins rose to offer his critique: “The audience won’t care about you until they know how much you care about them.” Brilliant!
That wasn’t the first time I’d heard that sentiment. As a novice speaker several of my coaches had emphasized that every presentation is always about the audience members – not the speakers. I’d heard it over and over again in different forms and different forums, but never quite so succinctly. Bravo, Rich!
These years later I make it a point to pass that idea along when it’s appropriate. That’s not always in a training setting for speakers.
Some weeks ago I attended a training event for new captains. One module was dedicated to team building. The idea was to give each new captain tools she could use to build the team, i.e., her flight attendants, gate agents, baggage loaders, and mechanics, who could in turn help her realize her vision on every flight.
Rich’s wisdom came to mind during that conversation, so I piped up. “Folks, your support team won’t care about you and your vision until they know how much you care about theirs.” As far as I knew it was one nugget among many during the course. I had no expectation that it might be remembered over any other of the great ideas we gleaned that week.
Yesterday I learned just how much impact Rich’s idea had on at least one other attendee. I walked into the operations office at Newark airport and immediately ran into one of my fellow new captains from that course.
“Hey Captain!”
“Well hi Captain! How’s it going out there?”
We visited for a few minutes, then he told a story that bowled me over. He said that he remembered what I had shared with the class about his team members not caring about his vision for every flight until they know how much he cares about theirs. And how much effect that approach was having with bringing the flight attendants and others on board. Which was in turn having impact on his passengers. And how grateful he was to have received that one little nugget he could immediately apply to his new captainship and come out of the gate as an effective leader at least in part because of that one idea.
Rich doesn’t know I’ve been sharing it. He has no idea I’m writing it here. Maybe I’ll call him. I’d bet he would appreciate knowing how far his 10 second offering at that Toastmasters meeting has gone. First to me. Then to a room full of new captains. On to dozens of flight attendants working for this one new captain in the months since. From there to thousands of his passengers.
And there were 17 new captains in that class. If you take a minute to do the math the numbers get pretty big pretty quickly.
You just never know how far what you say or do is going to go.
Have you thought about that? Are you conscious of what you are saying and doing with those within your sphere of influence? All the time? Are you being deliberate with how you are living day-to-day?
Something else I learned at that captain development course is that “everything speaks.” Your influence is being created with every aspect of how you are living: how you present yourself to the world all the time every day. What are you saying to the world by how you show up?
Are you good with that? Give it some thought. That would be a great way to let everyone in your world know how much you care about theirs.
Thanks, Rich!
The Symphony of Your Life
#stayintheprocess #stepoverthebar #leadership #teambuilding #employeedevelopment
Link to Mark’s book, The Symphony of Your LifeThe Symphony of Your LifeThe Symphony’s YouTube Channel