How Walking Slowly Saved My Relationship with My Employees
“I may look busy, but I always have time to talk. Just ask.”
I felt like I was on auto-pilot, continually (and sincerely!) repeating this sentence. Re-iterating that my door was always open, and that I had time to give my input and feedback on projects, brainstorm, or just talk. I was there for my team, they just needed to ask!
But no one seemed to believe me.
I was the co-founder & co-CEO of an award-winning public relations and social media company. We had offices across North America, a team of 25, and worked with some of the world’s biggest brands. Given the fast-paced nature of our business, and the fact that I was running this empire, I was always on-the-go.
I walked fast, talked fast, and acted fast. I worked hard though to keep my energy friendly, approachable and grounded. But no matter how hard I tried, our team thought I was too busy and were too afraid of disturbing me.
Whenever they did have 1-on-1 sessions with me, they loved it. But somehow, leaving those sessions and going back out into the busy-ness and demands of agency life, it would all be forgotten and we’d soon be back at square one. And subsequently, it was sucking the life out of our company culture and in my team’s trust in me.
This one simple thing was my game changer…
I started walking slower.
Yep, it’s that simple. I slowed my gait, didn’t walk and talk on my phone (or even check it). I slowed right down to a casual walk. Getting coffee or lunch, walking to other meeting rooms, greeting clients at the reception area. I just slowed down.
Every ounce of me was screaming of course
“ I have so much to do!! I don’t have time to walk this slowly. I’m sure there are tons of emails coming in, or clients calling me”. That was all the craziness in my head.
Even worse — my body was so used to rushing, that my cells were rebelling, as this was so out of their norm. It’s like my body was cross-firing, and I was vibrating (and not in a good way).
Thankfully I held it together on the outside, and no one could see all the resistance on the inside.
Ultimately, I ended up doing some energy work, both with an energy healer and with plants, to align my mind and body. I would literally sit in front of a plant, focus on it, relax my body and my mind, and overall enter into a gentler state. Plants truly are powerful beings. (Luckily I didn’t kill any of them, with my crazy energy!).
It took a while, but eventually, I got there. Body, mind, and soul were aligned. My insides stopped screaming. Calm took over. I learned to walk slowly and peacefully.
It spilled over into my speech and breath — speaking slower, breathing slower. And of course cleared my head, and the millions of thoughts continually racing in there.
Through coaching, I also learned to be a better listener, which made everyone feel important and heard. Previously, I listened to respond, whereas I now listened to appreciate, acknowledge and share (if needed! sometimes you listen, just to listen!).
I leaned to allow pauses in the conversation and to put periods at the end of my own sentences. Employees, and frankly everyone, could finally keep up with me.
Soon enough, as if by magic…. my team fell in love with me. My strengths as a leader shone, as did my poise, reliability, and humanity. My relationship with our team transformed, becoming stronger and deeper. They soon saw me as a role model, instead of that crazy person they never wanted to turn into. And they started to ask for my time.
What was my biggest takeaway?
More than anything, I learned to become present —emotionally, physically, mentally, and in particular, energetically.
I guess that old saying really is true… to stop and smell the roses. It certainly worked for me, and for our company. Team happiness soared. We all bonded. We laughed so much. Retention rates skyrocketed. And my cells thanked me too.
