Greg Stevenson warns that leaders often miss the gap between what they intend and what their team actually experiences. When this intent-impact gap goes unnoticed, employees stop being honest, hide problems, and work around the leader instead of with them, eroding trust and costing the organization real money.
What I learned from that experience, and from the many versions of it I've watched play out since, in my own leadership and in the executives I work with, is this: technical competence is not enough. Strategic clarity is not enough. Even good intentions are not enough. What people actually experience in their interaction with you is what matters, not what you meant, Not what you thought you communicated. What landed. And the gap between those 2 things, between your intent and your impact, is one of the most important gaps a leader can learn to close. Because it compounds. Every interaction either builds or erodes the trust that makes everything else possible. A leader with a persistent gap between intent and impact eventually finds that people stop bringing them the real problems. They stop being honest in the room. They start managing around you rather than working with you. And by the time you notice, notice it, the cost is significant.
