Do We Walk the Talk, Every Day?

Building a culture around values requires the leader to provide a daily example of exactly how each definition outlined in the handbook and on the wall directly applies to what’s required of them. Providing a detailed explanation, connecting those definitions to their behaviors so nothing is left to assumption, is just as important. Based on the MITSloan Management Review article I’ve cited a few times previously, stating that “more than three-quarters of CEOs interviewed in a major business magazine discussed their company’s culture or core values — even when not specifically asked about it,” the talking piece usually happens (even if it’s only to the reporters or investors). Even when we’re intentional about having those conversation with the team members counting on us for that clarity, and even when we’re able to articulate clear ties between our own behaviors and how we’ve defined our core company values, that doesn’t automatically mean any of it will translate to what each of them do in their own daily routine.

Through the Strategic Leadership Coaching that Cindy and I do with dozens of business owners and executives today, we frequently challenge them to identify tasks that they’re doing but may not need to - the tasks that someone on their team could take over, allowing them to have more time for things that only they can do. During these conversations, we always stress that it’s not about dumping something we don’t like onto someone as a form of punishment; this should be very clearly thought out so any responsibility that’s delegated helps the team member develop their own skills in the process. We frequently hear leaders say, “I won’t ask someone to do something that I’m not willing to do myself.” While we admire the spirit behind that, the stark reality of leadership is that we just don’t have enough hours in the day to do everything we have the physical ability to do, or everything we want to do… All that said, ensuring everyone on our teams has a crystal-clear understanding of our core values IS NOT one of the things we can ever delegate (or dump).

In a recent interview about my book, Leading With A Clear Purpose, I was asked why I thought there were so many varying descriptions of “leadership” and to describe what it meant to me. I simply stated that I viewed “leadership” as a verb; the act of providing a service to others that they’re not capable of themselves. I explained that authority had nothing to do with this kind of leadership. I went on to reference what I once heard Dave Ramsey share in detailing the difference between “servant leadership” and “subservient leadership.” Dave said that, “Subservient leadership is doing something for someone that they can and should be doing for themselves, where true servant leadership is doing what they cannot do in order to help them be even more effective in what they can do.”

As we, as leaders, work to help our team members understand exactly how our core values can be modeled in their roles, there will be times where we absolutely should be performing tasks that typically fall in their scope of work. And when we do, it’s critical that we explain the connection between the word we hold us as a value and the behavior we’ve used to put it into practice - just like when we exemplify that value while doing our own work. Do we walk the talk in every way we possibly can, and do we do it everyday? Next time, I’ll share one of the best examples of this that I’ve ever seen personally!