Are Your Intentions Getting Attention?

Leaders like you are intuitive. You know in your gut the direction your organization or community needs to go to thrive. While intuition is a vital, even essential, gift of leaders, intuition is leader-dependent. More is required. Effective leaders also pay attention to how they are planting clear intentions at every stage of growth and development alongside the people they lead - especially during change. These intentions invite collaboration, which may be even more pivotal than intuition. Paying attention to intentions can also reduce angst and lead to a more sustainable, shared impact.

I learned this the hard way several years ago. I was coaching my son's travel baseball team when our coaching staff decided it was time to start registering for more competitive tournaments.

We went. The kids and coaches had a blast. We all felt like big leaguers for a day. The scores, though, were very lopsided - and not in our favor. We didn't think much of it as coaches until the less-than-pleasant phone calls came in from parents about our performance.

It was clear that our intentions of fostering a sense of teamwork and having fun were not aligned with the parents’ goals of winning. We quickly realized that if we had communicated our intentions and invited the parents into a collaborative conversation, the overall shared experience could have been healthier and more satisfying for all involved.

At Learning Forte, we have developed the “Plant Your Intentions” model for this vital work. When our clients, or we as a team, face unique challenges and changes, we pause to pay attention so we can name the circumstance, identify possibilities, choose actions, and track growth. We have learned firsthand how beneficial it is to leverage this exercise, as individuals and teams. When we plant intentions we can ease angst within our teams and carve out more sustainable, shared paths forward.

Download the Plant Your Intentions model

written by Greg Klimovitz
April 2024