“Our Values: customer focus, responsibility, innovation, performance, teamwork.”

What do you think when you read something like that?

“That’s an important list of drivers that gives me an insight into how they run their business” or, “Yadda, yadda”?

Lists like these might (just) look good from a distance — “oh, they say something about values” — but get close and you realise there’s nothing there.

Painting by Numbers?

It’s the painting-by-numbers of leadership. (And would you put one of those on your wall?)

Values are the guiding principles of how you make trade-offs, and they shout loud the kind of business you are. Tell me you have an unconvincing list of empty concepts at the heart of your business, and I’m likely to believe you.

But what about this from a firm of retail consultants?

“Obsessive. We are obsessed with fashion and shopping. We live it, love it, and just ‘get it’. An obsessive passion which means we’re like a ‘dog with a bone’ to get the best job done.”

‘Obsessive’ means something to this company and any recruit or customer who reads that little story would have at least some idea of what they’re dealing with. Convinced by the story or not, this is a different kind of company to our friends with ‘customer focus’.

The Truth

Every business has values, whether they’re written down and posted to an About Us page or not. If you decide to disclose yours, don’t be tempted by blandery, don’t settle for a wish list of concepts that you’d like to be true, and don’t waste your time with the dictionary.

Values are the truth about who you are as a company and if you want your staff to live them and your customers to trust them, if you want them to make any difference at all, show what they mean by giving some context.

Search for stories that describe who you are on your best days. What is absolutely true about your company, and absolutely you? Write it down. And publish that.

Neatly filed under Purpose
Tags: beliefs, honesty, Purpose, values

On-stage

As a leader you have a lot of influence. Inside the bubble, you run the meeting and every head turns as you have the last word, there’s only one person to pick up the bill, important decisions fall to you.

These are the centre-stage acts of leadership you judge yourself by. You know every eye is on you and you play your part — not as an actor, as the leader.

But you’re not just a leader on special occasions. People still pay attention when the stage lights dim and the curtain closes. You may as well live in a follow-spot.

Off-stage

As a leader you have a lot of influence. Outside of the bubble, people notice what you do and the way you do it — like how you get everyone to speak at the meeting, like always saying thank you when the waiter brings the bill, like staying out of the way so others can make decisions.

These are the offstage acts of leadership that your team judges you by and it’s here that you have the most influence, because influence is magnified by time and attention.

GE’s Jack Welch once said that the culture of an organisation is nothing more or less than the way the leader behaves. His point? Everything you do as a leader is seen by, picked up on, talked about and mimicked by those around you. They don’t just judge you, they follow you.

You know that, right? If you walk past litter in the corridor, so does everyone else. If you scream and shout, so does everyone else. And if you give credit, encourage, care and have fun, so does everyone else. The spotlight shines on each nod, shake, tut and smile.

A thousand little things

For every act of authority, tough decision, or hard turn you take as a leader, there are a thousand little things with more pervasive influence.

Every single thing you do influences every single person around you. In other words — from you today, from your team tomorrow. Don’t put on an act, but do pay attention to the things they pay attention to, and use your influence wisely.

Neatly filed under Leading
Tags: culture

A prospect asks, How many other customers do you have? A new recruit asks, What do our competitors do better than us? A board member asks, Why haven’t you met your targets?

When we’re hit with questions we’d rather avoid most of us flannel, bluff or maybe just flounder. Or there’s the politician’s answer that gets us out of the hot seat without saying anything.

If you hear one answer in your head but something else coming out of your mouth you’re giving “published” answers. Something you hope will play to the audience and buy you some credit without giving away the truth.

Doesn’t everyone do it? We’ve all heard leaders get out of jail with bland answers and half-truths. Listen between the lines though and those answers aren’t very far from, “don’t you worry about things like that, everything’s going to be just fine.”

Answers like these might get you out of a hole, but are they wise?

Think about it. When someone rubs flannel in your face, don’t you tune out, respect them less, and move along to the next booth? If that’s how you react, how about the people listening to you?

The best way to deal with difficult questions is to tell the truth. Let’s look at those first three questions again:

• “You already know we’re a start-up. We’ve been working with five pilot sites for the past four months and we’re expecting the first one of those to sign-up next month.”
• “Great question. Our competitors are stronger at A, B and C. We’re closing the gap, although not as fast as we’d like, but the market sees our strengths at X, Y and Z .”
• “We lost our distribution partner when we missed the shipping deadline. We’ve signed a new partner and here’s how we’re now managing our development schedules …”

I’m not suggesting you open your kimono on every question — there are always decisions not taken and secrets to be kept — but those situations are rare. Preparing for difficult questions can mean the difference between a great answer and flimflam, but when you’re hit with a sky-ball be as open as you can and never stray from honesty.

Openness shows confidence and when it comes to the truth, would you rather they heard it from you or from someone else?

Difficult questions are, well, difficult. But as leaders, these are the questions we’re judged by. They may be issues of fact or of feeling, but at heart, every question is a matter of trust.

Telling it like it is shows leadership. Business is a business based on trust, and if you want people to trust you, be confident, show leadership, and always tell the truth.

Neatly filed under Leading
Tags: honesty