and bigger and eventually you will be found out.When you screw up, admit it. Don’t make excuses.Don’t assign blame and point fingers. Instead, look for ways you can be part of the solution.Follow up with team members to make sure projects aren’t falling through the cracks. Don’t just say, “Oh, well, I did my part.”If you need to work late to get it done, work late without complaining. There are also days you leave early. It all balances out in the end.If you’re out of something to do, ask for more work. Don’t wait for someone else to direct you.By spelling out exactly what the values look like in action, you go a long way toward making sure people are living them. People generally want to do a good job, giving them a roadmap will set you both up for success.2 Make the values very visible to all employees. This is also true of your mission and vision statements. Post them prominently throughout your company. Include them in standards of behavior (see Chapter 32), emphasize them when you hire, reference them when you train a new skill, reinforce them in meetings, and so forth.
3 Connect to values on a regular basis. In written and verbal communication, connect back to values. For example:
“Susan, I saw how even though you were busy, you took time to help your coworker. This is a great example of living our value of teamwork.”
“Adam, I know getting the customer feedback you received was not pleasant; however, I noticed you were not defensive and took positive action. You really role-modeled our value of learning.”
Always add a sentence to what you write or say with a connection to values.
1 Don’t ignore violations when you see them. Remember, what you permit, you promote. When addressing people who are not taking the desired action, connect it to not living the company values. If values violations keep happening, you might find you need to put new systems in place (perhaps a better performance management process) to tackle the issue and make sure you’re not permitting/promoting it. Encourage employees to do the same.
2 Hold up the mirror. As a leader, you are always being watched. Are you demonstrating the values? An employee of an organization once asked me what to do if your boss is not living the values. I asked for more information. He shared that everyone was supposed to wear their name badge near their left shoulder. Yet the top leader never wore his name badge. I suggested he bring this up to the leader, but he was uncomfortable doing so. So when I saw the leader I mentioned that an employee had shared he felt he was not being consistent. The leader stated: “While I wish he would come to me, he is right and from now on I will wear my name badge.” I suggested he let everyone know this subject had come up, thank people for bringing it to his attention, and ask that if they notice other things to please speak up.
Occasionally, whether you’re a leader or an employee, you may be asked to do something that goes against company values. This is a challenging situation. However, it’s exactly in times like these that values are the most critical. How you respond will demonstrate whether you are truly living the values. Here are some guidelines to follow in such a situation:
What to Do When Asked to Go Against Values
1 When asked to do something that is not correct, explain to the person asking you to take the action why you feel the way you do. This gives the person the chance to share information that you may not have.
2 If after getting the explanation you are still uncomfortable, explain why and offer to talk with others in the company if need be.
3 Document conversations.
4 If you see action that is not correct and your direct supervisor is not listening, go over their head. Many companies even have hotlines today.
5 If there is retribution in response to your actions, report it.
6 If necessary, reach out to state and national hotlines. Also seek legal advice.
Hopefully, the values your company publicly claims are positive, ethical, morally correct ones. Most are. And hopefully those company values match your own personal core values. I find that the best leaders are those who embrace the same set of values both on and off the clock. They are transparent, or resourceful, or accountable at work and at home and in the community.
I have heard it said that character means you do the right thing when no one is looking. I absolutely agree. It is often hard to do the right thing—to make the right values-based decision—but it is worth it. And you only think no one is looking: most times, someone is. Walk the talk always. You’ll be able to look at yourself in the mirror and look your children, partner, and friends in the eye and you’ll guide your employees to do the same. That’s great leadership.
6 Be a Good Communicator
Great leaders are almost always great communicators. They have to be. Leaders must not only share information with many groups—employees, managers, customers, investors—but deliver it in a way that motivates people to act. That means knowing how to communicate in such a way that each audience truly “hears” the message, is inspired by it, and is willing to work hard toward common goals. This is a real art form.
Great communication is not just about people understanding what you are trying to say. It’s also about how they react to it and how they feel about you afterward. You want people not just to hear what you say but also engage emotionally with it. When they take your messages to heart and move enthusiastically toward the goals you’ve set for them, you know you’ve been successful.
Being a great communicator is more important than it has ever been. For one thing, the world is noisier than ever before. It’s hard to get people’s attention. It’s the digital age, so messages fly at people from all directions. Leaders need to be able to break through the chaos and say what they need to say in a way that will truly be heard and paid attention to.
As work environments are extremely complex and overflowing with information, part of being a good leader is managing the flow. Leaders need to be able to make sense of all this information and manage it in a way that gets everyone aligned and on the same page, keeps teams from getting siloed, and keeps everyone from feeling overwhelmed.
This is certainly not easy. For example, consider that more and more folks are working remotely. Even those who go into an office spend most of their time behind their desk and plugged into a computer, so there are fewer opportunities for chance encounters or face-to-face interactions between coworkers.
It just takes a much more intentional approach to keep everyone connected and on the same page. There may be things others need to know that you might not think about looping them in on, or vice versa, or bright spots that should be leveraged but could easily go unnoticed.
In an increasingly team-oriented and collaborative world, leaders must be ready and able to send, receive, and pass along massive amounts of information. Whereas in the past a person might be a part of one or two teams, today they’re often expected to be part of many different projects and to move effortlessly between them. That means we must have good communication habits in place. We can’t literally be in two places at once (at least until we figure out cloning), but good communication can help you stay connected to more than one place at a time.
Finally, leaders must be able to build strong relationships. They are the foundation for everything else. Leaders must communicate in ways that nurture and enhance relationships. Great communication from leaders sets people up to do their best work, helps them
