Connecting Your Leadership Values to Your Work
By now you may have guessed I love to share stories. Stories are the way that we connect with one another. And how we make sense of the world. It’s the stories we tell ourselves and each other that become so important…So, if it’s okay, I would like to share a little bit about my story behind the leadership program I designed and delivered, and the outcomes that occurred for a group of people that I think of with so much respect and admiration.
A few years ago I was fortunate enough to work with a leader who opened the door for me to be a catalyst for change. It was her leadership that paved the way for me to design and deliver a leadership program called the 4 Core Leadership Program, which ultimately impacted an organization of 3500 employees.
I saw a need for a leadership program based on a lack of unity, and business units doing similar jobs but not necessarily relying on one another, or even helping each other. In fact there seemed to be miscommunication about certain things, and a competitive spirit, but I would say for the most part it was the lack of unity amongst the groups that really caught my attention.
I felt like I could really make a change by bringing everyone together. And I was passionate about it.
In order to have unity in any organization, you must set a standard of values and behaviour, and then be prepared to do what needs to be done (ethically) to make that happen. You also must apply the effort required to attract the people (employees) who are willing to live and carry our your principles. You also need to ensure your organization is a safe place to practice those behaviours, and provide the tools and support when neccessary.
So what were the steps I created to inspire unity in this company? Well, it was a process that unfolded through a structured group offering. And it all began with the Price of Entry.
The Price of Entry was a term we landed on to help leaders think about the qualities all future employees needed to emulate. And if they didn’t have all four qualities, they couldn’t move on to the next stage of the hiring process. So as an exercise, all 18 executives were rallied together, and we spent an afternoon choosing the 4 pillars; characteristics every single employee would need to have in order to be hired.
Sounds fairly simple..? Right..? Well, the process of bringing 18 different leaders into 100% agreement was highly engaging! Drilling down to those four pillars was a most exciting prospect - there was debate, heated discussions, followed by periods of complete silence. There was true communication.
Leadership and values are not separate.
When these two components are allowed to thrive together the result is a highly functional team environment. The icing on the cake is applying sound organizational practices.
On the other hand, if this aspect of leadership is out of alignment…well, the inner conflict is set up and things can get preeettty miserable in a hurry.
But back to the POE. Once the 4 Core Pillars were established my role from there was to imbed those values into the culture. Now, one thing about culture is that you can easily name the obvious aspects of culture, but what is not so obvious are the buried cultural norms, the things unspoken. Those “foxes” need to be exposed to really get to the bottom of why teams are hurting or why they are dysfunctional. Many times it comes down to communication, and being prepared to make changes that align with healthy organizational processes.
FYI There is nothing worse you can do to an organization, than to ask what changes you need to make and not actually be open to implementing any changes. It causes great discouragement. However if you are open to initiating a sensible plan like following through on sound policy, and strategies to keep everyone on track, well - you gain the loyalty of your followers.
Issues that came into light were things like confusion around hiring. Hiring based on feelings were replaced by following the POE, and a few other complimentary strategies. This was a massive shift in thinking and the impacts on culture became significant. Ultimately it made Managers happy because it took such a burden off their shoulders when they were give a certain criteria they could follow. Everything just fell into place from there, and firing bad apples made life so much better for everyone who felt the impact of destructive behaviour.
If you want a happy company - give them tools to thrive.
If you want a miserable company, keep destructive employees, don’t train anyone ever, and don’t communicate with your employees.
Next, it was identifying the good things the company offered, and all the benefits; and talking about it openly. Then learning how to communicate the message out into the public sphere. The best brand is the brand employees talk about in a positive light. If you are not talking about how great your company is and relaying that into the market place there is something very wrong occurring. The next step of the program was showing the leaders how to articulate how grateful they were for their teams contribution, and the frequency of the communication.
Finally, it was all about leadership personality, who are you as a leader? What are your values? What is important to you? And providing a safe avenue to share those thoughts and perspectives, making the journey more enjoyable and attainable.
I believe the trust amongst the leaders at the highest level, as they worked together was key to real change. You cannot rely on yourself alone.
Assessing the groups of leaders who went through was key to uncovering what we learned and how it made the company better, and here are just a few take-a-ways.
The Price of Entry created a common ground of characteristics that we could agree on and act on, it was a starting point to unity, it was not negotiable and it created a standard we could follow
In the absence of unity, there is lower financial profit margin, lower relationship outcome, more sick days, less productive work
Community at work is one of the most important determiners for a happy workplace, it’s a key aspect of belongingness
Being in the right role was critical
True Leadership is not showy or self-centred, the leaders I worked with were the most humble, and put-others-before-themselves-sort-of-folks-you-ever-saw, they displayed the characteristics consistently
Less turnover and less stress was an outcome that satisfied all leadership members
The community aspect created a learning environment of trust. Trust is the number one key indicator if your organization is going to be successful or not. Which brings me to one final note.
As I reflect on what launched this amazing venture, I can directly tie it to developing a Respectful Workplace training tool prior to the 4 Core. Creating an atmosphere of trust within the leadership team hinged on a safe work policy.
In the face of complicated Equity, Diversity, Inclusion policies you see today, the Respectful Workplace tool created the highest impact I have seen so far. Put simply all employees were expected to follow the golden rule. And the leadership team created the expectations around that. It was about how we treated one another, with respect and dignity at all times. It was safe and simple policy and trickled down into real, and practical examples.
Well, that’s it for now, thanks for listening!
For more information on the 4 Core Leadership Program, or if you would like insights to your organization, or are considering tweeking your leadership practices please fill out the form below for a 60 minute free consultation.