The Ultimate Leadership Trigger
As a leader, your day is packed, as usual. You have blocked zero time for people approaching you with problems or needs that could be the ultimate trigger for any variety of emotions. These could include annoyance, overwhelm, resentment, guilt, apprehension, or defensiveness.
The last thing people want is to be dismissed, lectured, or gaslighted. Any instance of these will be translated into psychological unsafety. People will go underground with their complaints, leaving clueless leaders incorrectly assuming that no news is good news.
There is a simple way to show up as an untriggered, engaging leader, no matter what people bring to you. It’s called a QuikStart.
This is a 10-15-minute conversation with whoever presents a problem or need. We call this person the “inviter” because they invite conversations about things people care about.
You work with them on four Pathway Conversations: List 3 things you know for sure; Name 3 hopes, concerns, and/or expectations; Turn these into 3 questions; Name 3 things to find or try out from your questions. This works every time because it is based on the neuroscience of how our brains actually work.
Then you invite others to join the Inviter to more fully develop these four conversations. People make progress on what they care about, one conversation at a time. They work with the time they have available. No longer are unproductive meetings necessary.
It doesn’t take long for people to feel authentically safe voicing what they care about and collaborating on it. This shifts them from complaint to contribution. People naturally learn to focus on what they have and can do instead of what they lack and can’t do. Problems and needs no longer fester and escalate because they’re worked on when they are manageably small.
Leaders shift from being emotionally unregulated to productively engaging. Everyone wins.