After the 2020 events, people began using technology to save time on travel and long meeting preparations, and to achieve a balance between work, personal life, and priorities. And now, several years after the global events, some skills that were considered built over time are starting to decrease and vanish, making people feel uncomfortable and, at the same time, embarrassed in embarrassing situations. At the same time, leaders aimed to travel more than others, which changed habits, eroded trust, and weakened leadership presence. At the same time, technological upgrades and the boom have created people with sustainably growing wealth, who tend to present themselves as leaders and influencers. Still, mistakenly, the behavior that may impact others creates more negativity toward them and positions them as unreliable. This, coupled with the lack of graduate feedback that creates a real path for improvement, made the most self-reflective people in the room the most blooming. Driven by personal self-confidence, the new behavior that leaders often demonstrate looks more like an ego-driven directive approach, aiming to create social imbalance. One of the most common situations in which inexperienced leaders in a new environment make themselves look comical and foolish is when they fail to inspire others through their presence and behavior.
A month ago, I was traveling on a work assignment to a destination near my home country. Within the two hours O spent at the airport, and the other one and a half hour on the plane, I have had the opportunity to interact with several leaders from small and large companies, some of them leading large structures, and others still enjoying the start-up mindset, not realizing that it makes them look non-reliant and trustworthy.
But let’s move away from the fact that it doesn’t work for most leaders, who fail to present themselves in an appropriate light when traveling.
Everyone should focus on what works instead of what they failed at.
Let us continue with several recommendations on how to keep the pace high while simultaneously building a positive experience for you and those around you.
Prepare in advance for the trip.
I have been in this situation many times. A trip is an upcoming event in my calendar, and I leave everything to chance, hoping it will go the right way if I do everything at the last minute. But the less time you have, the more pressure and insecurity there is if everything is OK. No information on what is coming, relying on what should happen, but working with limited information creates only tension. You didn’t prepare the belongings you will take or get enough information on the fastest and most balanced way to the airport. And you have to decide how you will travel to the airport or the train/bus station in the morning when your trip starts. Isn’t it better to think in advance, look at the transportation schedules, or have enough information on the taxi fares in advance? This lowers your internal tension and the unconscious tension you create for those accompanying you on the trip or driving you to your departure point.
Collect information on habits and behavior on the airplane.
Why should you care about that? Well, because when in the air, your best friends are people who serve you on the plane. There is an etiquette that creates pointiness standards, but why stick with it if you can upgrade it? It works for you and your comfort. It is vital to learn about the airline and the people on the plane, understand their culture, and respond to them in the way they expect from someone from their land. The more your style of closure resembles that of someone who welcomes you on the airplane, bus, or train, the more recognizable and memorable you will become in their minds. When you need something more than the usual service, you feel you are close to their individuality and culture, and people who serve you will invest more effort in you than they do for the typical passenger.
The arriving destination
Have you seen what happens when a transportation arrives at the destination? People stand up in a rush, grab their belongings, and push themselves and others toward the exit. No one stops, smiles, and most don’t even say a short farewell phrase to those who have served them during the trip. Now imagine what an impact a person who does this will have on those in the vehicle, so they are visible to them. It makes people remember you even if you rarely use that mode of transportation. So giving one last moment of attention and recognition can open doors for you and ensure you have a follower.
The move out from the arrival destination to the next part of the journey
You know that when coming to an airport, people move as fast as they can out of it. No talk, no interaction, and no additional activities. Many do this. According to a travel report from 2023, 61% of people who travel don’t spend time in the airport or train station building a car park, contacting others, or socializing. The sad truth is that people live within their small world. However, being a leader most often adds to the role’s responsibilities and serves as an example to others. Stopping to greet the security guard, the person at the welcoming desk, and others, preventing someone from being part of the personnel, and making small talk are good ways to create a connection and be remembered. Why am I saying that? Most often, when traveling, our communication habits reflect what we feel on the inside. The office and corporate environment send signals about what people expect, while, when traveling, these signals often remain hidden. Push yourself to the brink and focus on building healthy relationships that may open doors, enrich you with information, and create insights for re-moderating the other side of life – the professional environment.
The taxi or shuttle driver interaction – your source of information – why miss it?
Now that you are out of the place of arrival, there is one last struggle – to get through the traveling moment until you reach your final destination. You have to spend the last twenty, thirty, sixty minutes waiting quietly to reach the place where you will feel comfortable and with yourself. However, as leaders need to dig deeper when acting in a corporate environment, why should they miss another opportunity to build connections and stay ahead of others by gathering information? The driver may be someone who surprises and even inspires you. For example, several weeks ago, I was on the shuttle with four people. On our way from the office to the airport, we were driven by a nice person in his sixties who just sat down and moved. Until I started a conversation. After just a few minutes into our forty-five-minute ride, I realized this guy owned the shuttle bus company. He worked as a sales director for a large company, partnering with some of the company’s board members, who were coming to us. Within less than 10 minutes, we established a connection, and he shared information about the board members, how to interact with them, and what to ask and discuss to succeed in our conversation. I was tempted to use that information, and after only two hours in a room, the company’s board agreed with our proposal and decided to fund a project we had been aiming to start. Still, I struggled to convince others in the company that it was worth the time and effort. This means you don’t know where the next opportunity or support will come from. Then why wait? Act in a way that may grant you another source of information to support your leadership journey with the team and the company. Opportunities and supports are often just across the street; you only need to cross that street and join them in your search.
The place you are visiting – why etiquette matters and how you miss your supporters’ energy
Within just a year of traveling back in time, I realized that no matter your role and grade, your behavior toward others matters most. It was a hard-learned lesson after I traveled to accompany the headquarters. While entering the CEO’s office, I had to sit in the same room with a lady who worked as a receptionist and office manager. I have missed valuable opportunities by viewing her as someone below me. You never know who stands in front of you. No matter the person’s official role, this may be one of the most trusted people on the other side. They may value their opinion and give it priority when collecting information and deciding whether or how to work with you. And still, after so many years and so much has been written on the topic, I see people in leadership (or at least they see themselves in leadership roles) who make the most basic mistake: underestimating those around them. Getting to know the front office people and even trying to chat with them moves leadership presence to the sky. At the same time, staying silent and not interacting may hurt your presence and create distance between you and others. Companies sometimes use people who first meet newcomers to collect information about them and then share it with others. In many cases, after that, behavior toward a person or a leader even forms, including those observations.
During meetings with potential parties
You may feel comfortable in your own country, company, and team, but getting outside is stressful. No matter what you seek as a final output, the best you can do is build your presence by asking the audience. There is a “good practice” that experts share, but it rarely works: “find as much information as you can for those you are meeting.” On paper, this sounds great, but in reality, you can hardly find more than the obvious information, like schools, groups of interests, maybe common relationships, etc. At the same time, a leader needs to balance conversations to achieve the best output from each. Attending a meeting already doesn’t mean you should stop behaving tactfully. The more you focus on balancing the meeting and on acknowledging other parties’ contributions and specifics, the more you can overcome many cultural or specific barriers created by differences. The more balanced you look in your conversation and in how you make others feel involved, the more successful you will be in coming out of the meeting.
After the meeting, but still in the office
You finished the meeting. Got what you came for, or moved a step closer to it. Now you can step back, relax, and get out of here as fast as you can. What a wrong thought. The time in the office is still spent being judged, and for others to start or resist building a connection with you. Leaving the meeting is like leaving a safe place with a clear agenda and outcomes. But then you get back to the jungle. People you don’t know, a culture still distant from you, but people you need to leave with a good impression. That is why the most important thing is not to let your guard down, but to continue building a long-lasting positive impression of yourself. Those people may not look harmful to you, but you never know what their words may cause if you don’t get along with them.
Your way to the travel back location
Now you have to leave the office. You may have done all the things that seem right, and everyone in the office area feels great about you. But after all that hard work, you need to step back. You need to stay quiet, and the taxi you’re taking is the best place to do so. But here is where you got it wrong again. If organized by the company, most of the time transportation is handled by a trusted partner, and drivers are well-known and a trusted source of information if someone wants to learn more about you, your behavior, and manners. It speaks a lot about you. And people often collect that feedback from drivers to fill in any missing pieces from the puzzle they have built while interacting with you. So, keeping the pace and demonstrating consistent behavior should not stop when you enter the vehicle. Just move forward with what you already offered to others until you’re left alone.
IN CONCLUSION:
Although there isn’t an officially written universal etiquette for how regular people and leaders may need to behave when traveling, it is always a good idea to show consistency in behavior, attitudes, and actions. This creates sustainable trust in others, helps your current situation, and works for you in the future by building a positive image and a tribe of fans and followers. Now, did that wake up a thought or two in you?
The Human place - a path from you to yourself 