So I've been thinking about this for a while. I don't know that this is original to me, as a matter of fact, I am 100% I'm not the first one to think like this.... Dictionary.com defines undercurrent as this:
un·der·cur·rent (ŭn'dər-kûr'ənt, -kŭr'-) n.
- A current, as of air or water, below another current or beneath a surface.
- An underlying tendency, force, or influence often contrary to what is superficially evident; an intimation: "The Gaucho began to talk, calmly but with an undercurrent of passion" (Thomas Pynchon).
So the question is, how do we as leaders have an affect on the undercurrent running through the people we lead? It seems to me, and I'm not the sharpest tack in the box, that the rumor mill is maybe the most powerful way to spread news. Assuming that is the case, like Patrick M. Lencioni tells us, why not spread good and true rumors.
My thoughts on this are only solidified to the point that I do believe that if we ignore the relational undercurrent we will find ourselves fighting the same battles over and over again with the same lame brain results. So as a leader, and specifically a communications director, it is vital I begin to wrap my brain around it and start harnessing its power.
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