Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building, and golajving. This
Speaker 1: is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul
Speaker 1: fella Aledo.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode three twenty one. Today's episode is titled pause
Speaker 2: long Enough to See the Ripple Effect. So let me
Speaker 2: start with this. Leadership isn't just about action, it's about awareness.
Speaker 2: Most leaders are so caught up in momentum, task lists, meetings, emails,
Speaker 2: and crisis that they forget to stop and look behind them,
Speaker 2: not literally but figuratively. They don't stop to see the
Speaker 2: impact of their actions, the ripple effect they're creating us,
Speaker 2: their teams, their culture, and sometimes the entire organization. When
Speaker 2: you make a decision, send an email, hold a meeting,
Speaker 2: or respond to someone's idea, whether it's positive, neutral, or negative,
Speaker 2: it creates a ripple. That ripple hits your team, your peers,
Speaker 2: your reputation. Sometimes it even moves beyond your organization. The
Speaker 2: ripple doesn't ask for your permission, It just happens. Here's
Speaker 2: the key. Great leaders pause long enough to notice it.
Speaker 2: They observe, they follow the chain reaction. They check the
Speaker 2: temperature in the room after a big change. They pay
Speaker 2: attention to body language when delivering tough feedback. They listen
Speaker 2: more after making a bold move to hear how it landed.
Speaker 2: And let me give you a real world example of this.
Speaker 2: A few years ago, I promoted a frontline EMT to
Speaker 2: a leadership role. It was a move based on performance, reliability,
Speaker 2: and how often others looked to them for direction, even
Speaker 2: when they didn't have the title on paper. Everything checked out,
Speaker 2: but a few weeks in I noticed tension subtle, but
Speaker 2: there fewer jokes in the crew lounge. Conversations died when
Speaker 2: this person entered the room. I paused, I observed, and
Speaker 2: I realized I had created a ripple. I didn't intend.
Speaker 2: Some of the other staff felt overlooked. They weren't upset
Speaker 2: with the person I promoted, they were upset with me.
Speaker 2: I didn't communicate the why behind the decision. I assumed
Speaker 2: they would see what I saw. That pause allowed me
Speaker 2: to course correct. I called a quick team meeting and
Speaker 2: explained the decision transparently and invited anyone who wanted feedback
Speaker 2: or a path to leadership to meet with me, and
Speaker 2: within a day the tone shifted, the ripple softened. That's
Speaker 2: the power of the pause. So let me give you
Speaker 2: a few tactical leadership takeaways. Before action, ask yourself who
Speaker 2: does this impact directly and indirectly? And after action, ask
Speaker 2: yourself what changed because of this? And check the temperature,
Speaker 2: not once, but multiple times. Ripples travel and sometimes they
Speaker 2: come back weeks later and invite feedback even if it's uncomfortable.
Speaker 2: The people closest to the ripple can usually describe it
Speaker 2: better than you can. In last track, patterns are your
Speaker 2: ripples building trust or fear? Are they creating initiative or hesitation?
Speaker 2: When you pause to see the ripple, you learn whether
Speaker 2: your leadership is making waves or making wreckage. And here's
Speaker 2: the thing. If you don't stop long enough to look
Speaker 2: your team will it anyway? You might just be the
Speaker 2: last to know. Great leadership isn't about casting vision and
Speaker 2: setting direction. It's also about noticing what happens after you lead.
Speaker 2: So today's challenge is simple, pause, look back, look around,
Speaker 2: look deeper. The ripple effect is always in motion and
Speaker 2: it's always telling you something. This has been the seven
Speaker 2: minute Leadership Podcast, and I thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: For more Paul fell of Alito Podcasts. Visit paulfellowalito dot com.