A positive leadership brand takes time to build, but it can also be quickly destroyed. Today, I want to share one of the ways that I see people at all leadership levels erode their brand every day. 

Picture this scenario. You’re busy, life is moving at a fast pace, and your days are full of meetings. You get an email. Before you know it, it isn’t even visible on your screen because so many other emails have come in. The message requires a response, but for you it’s already out of sight and out of mind. A week or two goes by and the sender reluctantly forwards it to you again. And the same thing happens.

I understand that you’ve got a lot on your plate. But, in your flurry of activity, how often do you stop to consider the impact of your lack of responsiveness — in particular, the impact on your personal brand? 

If roles were reversed, what would go through your head if you didn’t get a response to your email? Initially, you may make excuses for the unresponsive person, such as that he or she:

• Didn’t see your message or forgot to reply. We all get too much email every day. It was just an oversight.

• Is really busy. It must be a hectic week.

• Is out of the office traveling or on vacation and forgot to put an out-of-office message in place.

But, over time, you may draw some big negative conclusions about the person, even if you initially had a more positive impression. 

You might assume that he or she is:

• Disrespectful of your time. You don’t have time to keep following up on this. 

• Disorganized and doesn’t know how to prioritize or keep track of things.

• Overwhelmed and unable to manage time effectively. 

• Not someone you can count on. Responsiveness and follow-through are such foundational expectations.

• Definitely not ready for more responsibility. If something this small takes so long, what would happen on the bigger, more important stuff?

You may not agree with these conclusions, and some of them may feel unfair. But these are very real possibilities depending on how long you have behaved this way. Although you may have perfectly valid reasons for taking so long to respond, at some point the other person just won’t care why.    

Lack of responsiveness and follow-through are simply not what you want to be known for. 

If you struggle with these behaviors, start by identifying one small step that you can take to get on top of them. Remember that a little bit of structure can go a long way. That could mean taking 15 minutes to prioritize each day, organizing email into folders (high, medium, low priority) as you get them, checking email at intervals and adding reminder flags to them, delegating to others who can respond or take action on your behalf, or getting some non-essential activities off your plate. Whatever it is, just get started and hold onto that positive brand that you have worked so hard to build.