A leader understands the temptation to express other’s emotions for them. They might be staying calm in the situation. However, the leader might get so angry at the manner in which the follower was treated that s/he goes on and on ranting and raving about how unfair it is (while the actual person offended stands calmly).
Maybe s/he stands calmly because s/he’s come to terms with the situation. However, many times s/he stands calmly because emotionally s/he can’t compete with the emotional tempest coming off the leader. S/he gets emotionally buried. Consequently, doing emotions for another person many times makes it impossible for them to do the emotions they need to express to successfully move through the situation.
The wise leader will stand back with empathy as the follower vents but won’t pick up/ take away the emotional vent from the follower. This problem must be raised to a conscious level particularly in the case of a follower that has found a special place in the heart of the leader. When an injustice is done to that follower, the leader without thinking can oftentimes fall into the less than helpful trap of venting for the follower.
See the Don’t Ride The Ride poster for more on this subject.
Categories: Listening
Magic Club Leadership Resources 