My wife and I love when we are driving in the car together – well we love when she is driving and I am not. In her view I drive to slow and I am too easily distracted by conversation. Both of the accusations are completely correct.

But there is one frustration that I have – the usage of indicators.

The definition of the word itself should also provide the instruction for how to use them. They are to indicate the intent to change lanes or for a vehicle to move on the road.

This is where the fun begins on our road trips.

Mel loves to firstly wait for a gap in the traffic before indicating. This often results in her getting slightly cranky at other drivers who aren’t making room for her to change lanes before the next intersection.

In my wisdom I always remind her that the device is called an “indicator” and not a “notifier”. That we should activate it to indicate our need to change direction and the good nature of people will kick in and allow us to merge.

It is crazy to get angry at people for not letting us in, when we have not even indicated to them a change is required.

But it’s the same with leadership as well. How often do we find ourselves frustrated that a change is not being made when we have not even indicated that it is needed?

We sit back, stew and wait for a gap – rather than indicating to those around us a change is required.

Photo by Sven Scheuermeier on Unsplash