Calm Is Contagious, Too

It’s Tuesday morning. You walk in planning to finally work on next year's budget. By 8:45, a fraud alert hits a member's account, a key team member calls out sick, and a manager stands in your doorway with "a quick question" that takes forty minutes. The budget moves to Thursday.

Then Thursday fills up too.

By the end of a week like that, the best you can say is that you got through it.

Your team catches your energy.

When leaders feel reactive and a little out of control, when all they can do is get through the day, they pass that energy on to their team. They don't mean to; it just happens that way.

Your team reads it in a hundred small ways: the shorter answer in the hallway, the meeting that starts late because you were putting out a fire, and the decisions that pile up on your desk because nobody's sure they're allowed to make them. 

Your managers start running their days the same way. Then their tellers and member service reps follow, and before long, the whole credit union is running in react mode. Your members can feel it at the drive-through window.

The good news is that energy travels both ways. When you walk in with a plan, your managers start walking in with one too.

What calm and proactive looks like on a Tuesday

Calm comes from three habits. 

• Be strategic about where your hours go. 

• Have a plan for the day before the day makes one for you. 

• Delegate what needs delegating, including the tasks you hold on to because it feels faster to do them yourself.

None of that is hard to do, but doing it consistently can be challenging. 

The hardest part is building those habits into how you work so they hold up when the fraud alert hits. Once you do, everything starts to feel different, and your team will notice right away.

I've watched it happen time and time again. A leader I recently worked with went from 60-hour weeks to 40. She got there by giving her team the work they were ready for, freeing her up for the strategic coaching work only she could do.

How we get there in 90 days

I build that shift with leadership teams through the ABC process: Assess, Build, Cultivate. 

First, we assess what's actually happening on your team, from the executive suite out to the branches. Then we build the rhythms and accountability that let your leaders own their work. 

Finally, we cultivate a new way of leading that lasts long after the first burst of energy wears off.

Leaders who go through this feel more at peace, stay more focused, and get more done. And the decisions that used to pile up on their desks start getting made by the people closest to the work.

Your action step this week: At the end of each day, jot down the three things that pulled you off your plan. On Friday, circle the ones someone else on your team could have handled. This starts the process of moving you from reactionary to strategic in your daily work. 

If you and your team want the calm, strategic presence this approach provides, hit reply and tell me what your weeks look like right now. I'd love to share how the ABC process could work for your credit union.

Lead Boldly,
~ Michael