Training – Page 6 – thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World

Are You Being Set Up to Fail?

November 13, 2024/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Communications, Leadership, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

When someone who has traditionally been your opponent creates a great opportunity, question their motivation. Seek to fully understand the situation before you say yes.

Every organization suffers from some level of political intrigue. Whether it’s hoarding of resources, manipulative tactics, or passive aggressive behavior office politics distract your organization from getting things done. It also makes time at the office stressful and discouraging. Ignoring these dynamics can create risk for you, but you can take a productive approach to dealing with common political issues.

Set you up to fail

Some people want to see you fail. They also want everyone else to see you fail too. They do this because they believe if you fall behind, they get ahead. A common way for them to do this is create a great visibility opportunity where you can fail. They can encourage you to share something they know will be unpopular. They might share information they know is wrong to make you look bad in a particular situation. They might even put you in the spotlight before you’re ready to share your ideas. They may ask you to lead a project they know is doomed to fail, they may encourage you to take over a team they know it’s going to be disbanded or let go. It seems like they’re doing you a favor in that moment, but what they’re really doing is setting you up to fail. When someone who traditionally has been an opponent creates a great opportunity, question their motivation. Seek to fully understand the situation before you say yes.

I know one vice-president who had traditionally pushed back on a director’s career. This director was a rising star and the VP didn’t like him very much. One day the VP went to the director and said, “Hey, for the executive leadership team meeting next week, a spot just opened up to present. And I was thinking the project you’re working on would be great to update the executive leadership team on the progress of it.” Now this director thought, “Wow, this is a great opportunity. I’m going to get in front of the C-suite and talk about my project.” Then they realized the project wasn’t going that great. They also didn’t have a current status update ready to deliver. But they felt like they were on the spot and they had to take advantage of this opportunity, so they accepted. When they went to the meeting, they weren’t fully prepared. When they started presenting, this VP who had created the opportunity started asking a ton of really difficult questions. They put this person in a really bad position where they were having to explain the shortcomings of their project in front of the executive leadership team. That meeting didn’t go well for that director. They never saw it coming. They had been set up.

If you’re in this situation, if you’re dealing with a project and somebody comes to you before you’re ready, maybe ask them to cosponsor the project. You could ask them to contribute resources to that project that’ll increase the likelihood that the project doesn’t fail and that could get that person committed to helping that project succeed. If you’re given an opportunity to present and you’re not quite ready, it’s okay to defer and say, “Hey, the project isn’t at a state where I’m really comfortable sharing that information or maybe we could share it next month when we’ve hit some key milestones.” Don’t be too eager to get in to that spotlight. If you’re dealing with someone who has traditionally been a detractor, and that great opportunity comes along from them, really question it to make sure you’re not being set up to fail.

Want to learn more about navigating politics as a senior leader? How about taking an entire course on it? Go directly to the course and start learning how to navigate politics as a senior leader. The entire course is available at LinkedIn Learning. Enjoy!

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How to Navigate Office Alliances

November 6, 2024/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Communications, Leadership, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

Some people won’t do their dirty work themselves. They’ll align themselves with other partner groups to stall your progress.

Every organization suffers from some level of political intrigue. Whether it’s hoarding of resources, manipulative tactics, or passive aggressive behavior office politics distract your organization from getting things done. It also makes time at the office stressful and discouraging. Ignoring these dynamics can create risk for you, but you can take a productive approach to dealing with common political issues.

Alliance building

Some people won’t do their dirty work themselves. They’ll align themselves with other partner groups to stall your progress. These people might operate in the background. They can even promise things to other groups in exchange for their support against your ideas and your agenda.

When you encounter resistance from multiple directions, look for common interactions or relationships. You might be able to find out who is working behind the scenes against you. Once you know who is advancing an agenda counter to yours, it’s a lot easier to deal with the concerns they’re raising with each of those stakeholders they’re moving forward. You might have to pay for some support or build alliances of your own to overcome this type of situation.

Let’s imagine we have a senior vice president of sales. He wants resources for his product. He hears that a director of product development is trying to launch her own new product into the marketplace. The senior vice president goes out and he lobbies with supply chain and tells them how hard it’s going to be to launch her new product into the market. He lobbies with finance and tells them he’s not confident in her market estimates for how big that product is going to be. He then goes to marketing and says, you know what, her new product is actually going to cannibalize this really big product of yours. He’s actively working behind the scenes to sabotage her idea. All three of those groups then resist her product launch.

She then has to get them bought in to her idea. The way she can do this is understanding and addressing each of their concerns. She should come at it from a fact-based and data-driven approach. She should use logic and not emotion to understand what their issues are and provide them the data to let them know that her idea is a good one. She might then sit down with that SVP to try and understand what his broader concerns are. If she just ignores him, he’s going to keep trying to advance his agenda against hers. Sometimes the direct approach is the best approach.

If you find yourself in a situation where you’re getting unexpected resistance from multiple different areas, you might have somebody operating in the background. Take a step back and understand who might have an agenda that runs counter to yours. Then sit down with them, understand the concerns, and productively try to resolve them.

Want to learn more about navigating politics as a senior leader? How about taking an entire course on it? Go directly to the course and start learning how to navigate politics as a senior leader. The entire course is available at LinkedIn Learning. Enjoy!

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

What to Do When Someone is Taking Credit for Your Work

October 31, 2024/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Communications, Leadership, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

People looking to advance their careers in the organization might try to curry favor with key stakeholders and influencers. This can mean taking credit for your ideas as their own.

Every organization suffers from some level of political intrigue. Whether it’s hoarding of resources, manipulative tactics, or passive aggressive behavior office politics distract your organization from getting things done. It also makes time at the office stressful and discouraging. Ignoring these dynamics can create risk for you, but you can take a productive approach to dealing with common political issues.

Jockey for position

People looking to advance their careers in the organization might try to curry favor with key stakeholders and influencers. This can mean taking credit for your ideas as their own. It can make them seem more indispensable if they’re working on really important projects. They may even try to freeze you out of visibility opportunities by not inviting you to key meetings.

I worked with one senior director who got a new boss. When this VP came in, he wanted to impress the C-suite. This VP took over roles on key steering committee meetings and uninvited this senior director. The VP did this even though he had no expertise in the area. All he wanted was visibility. He actually uninvited this senior director from steering committees he had led for three or four years. The VP also took credit for the senior director’s work, and when things went wrong, that VP deflected blame to other parts of the organization.

The senior director asked me, “What do I do here? I’m being uninvited from these meetings, this person’s taking credit for my work, and I’m really concerned that people are going to start wondering what I do.” He actually went out and sought out mentors across the organization. He asked them for their input on key projects he was working on. In doing so, he was letting these influential people know that these were his projects. After major meetings or progress milestones on the project, the senior director sent out recap emails to other parts of the organization to let people know that he was the one driving the efforts.

If you deal with this type of situation where somebody is jockeying within the organization and freezing you out, a technique you can use is building those mentoring relationships across the organization. It’ll help make sure that people know what you’re working on, and if you’re leading a project where there are milestones, send out recap emails after a meeting. Again, you’re letting people know that you’re driving the work. The nice postscript to that story about the VP was people eventually figured out that all he was doing was jockeying for position, and he eventually got fired from the organization.

It’s tough when you’re in these types of situations. It’s going to require you to be patient and be diligent about making sure people know that the value you deliver is the value coming from you and your team, and it’s not somebody else’s project. Find those mentoring relationships, and get the word out about the great work your team is doing.

Want to learn more about navigating politics as a senior leader? How about taking an entire course on it? Go directly to the course and start learning how to navigate politics as a senior leader. The entire course is available at LinkedIn Learning. Enjoy!

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

How to Deal with Resource Hoarders

October 24, 2024/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Communications, Leadership, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

If you’re in a situation where somebody is keeping resources from you, help them understand how your agenda supports their agenda.

Every organization suffers from some level of political intrigue. Whether it’s hoarding of resources, manipulative tactics, or passive aggressive behavior office politics distract your organization from getting things done. It also makes time at the office stressful and discouraging. Ignoring these dynamics can create risk for you, but you can take a productive approach to dealing with common political issues.

Resource hoarding

A way to get ahead or maintain positions of importance is to hoard resources and build a kingdom. By pulling more resources like people and budget into your sphere of influence, you gain power in the organization. But building kingdoms can prevent things from getting done. If you need resources, help the person who has them understand how their resource contribution advances their own agenda. Get public commitments of those resources and manage those commitments through project plans. One other thing to realize here is, if you have resources and people are coming to you to contribute those resources to their projects, you need to understand that you need to provide those resources to valid projects. Be a good contributor to the growth of your organization.

I know one CIO who had just joined the company. He was trying to make a name for himself. He knew getting resources was critical for so many of the projects out there, and he held a lot of those IT resources. He made it really difficult for some people to get the resources they needed. He came at this from the perspective of, “I’m only going to allocate resources to projects that make me look important.” A lot of those projects were in a really big business unit. The problem was, there were some small business units that needed those resources too. But he was always saying no.

One project sponsor in one of those small business units was having a hard time getting the IT support he needed. He sat down with the CIO and he said, “You know, I know that big business unit seems like it matters the most, but this small business unit is really the future of the company, and I think you really want to be a part of that growth story. So if you contribute your resources, you’re going to be a big part of that story going forward.” It totally changed the way the CIO was looking at the situation. He immediately allocated a lot of resources to this small business unit. He then went to the senior leadership team and started bragging about he was contributing and really driving the growth of this small business unit. It was a little bit unseemly, but that stakeholder who needed those resources for that small business unit got what he needed.

If you’re in the situation where somebody’s holding back those resources, a great way to free those resources up is to help that person understand how your agenda drives their agenda. If you can make that connection for them, the resources are going to flow your way.

Want to learn more about navigating politics as a senior leader? How about taking an entire course on it? Go directly to the course and start learning how to navigate politics as a senior leader. The entire course is available at LinkedIn Learning. Enjoy!

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

Overcoming Obstacles to Creating a High-Performing Culture

August 14, 2024/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Communications, Leadership, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

Learn about four of the most common obstacles to creating a high-performance culture and how to overcome them.

You’ll face many common obstacles on your path to building a high-performance culture. Legacy culture issues, associates who resist the new culture, and processes or behaviors that don’t yet exist are going to slow you down. You need to work through these counter-culture moments and issues if you’re looking to change the overall culture of the organization. The more aware you are of what these pitfalls are, the more quickly you’re going to be able to overcome them.

Legacy culture issues

One of the four most common pitfalls I see is the legacy culture. “This is the way we’ve always done things.” Read more

Motivating, Inspiring, and Developing the Members of Your Team

July 10, 2024/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Communications, Leadership, Project Management, Training /by Trevor Jones

It’s easy to neglect your core responsibilities as a leader when it involves having uncomfortable conversations. Learn how to develop a maxim to overcome uncomfortable situations.

As a leader, one of your chief responsibilities is developing the members of your team. Great leaders build more leaders. You have to commit to their growth and create new opportunities for them to expand and learn new skills. That’s hard to do because for somebody to learn a new skill, you’re going to have to create an opportunity for them to do something they may not have done before. In doing that, you create risk because that individual might fail. And if they fail, that failure reflects on you. So a lot of times we’re afraid to take those risks on people to create growth opportunities.

That’s why you need a maxim to remind yourself that one of your chief responsibilities is doing that development work for the members of your team. My maxim to remind me that my chief responsibility is to develop people is, “It’s easier to correct course 100 yards into the journey than 100 miles.” I had a member of my team who was having some problems. One day he gave me some numbers and a report, and the numbers were off. I said, “Well, it doesn’t seem like a big deal. I’ll figure it out tomorrow.” I did this because I knew it was going to be a slightly uncomfortable conversation to have with him. A few days later, I heard about an interaction between this individual and a member of his team that hadn’t gone very well. I said, “I’m gonna need to talk to him about that. I’m not happy with what I’m hearing, but I’m not gonna do it today. Maybe I’ll do it next week.” The following week, I went past his office and he was berating a member of his team. He was speaking to them in a very condescending tone. I said, “I’m really gonna have to talk to him about this, but I’m not gonna do it today because he’s not in a good mood. The feedback won’t be well received.” I put off that more difficult conversation. I kept avoiding times when I should have given this individual some feedback.

Well, one day he came to me and said he was resigning. He had found another job and he was going to go work elsewhere. I was so excited because my problem was now gone. On the way home, I called one of my colleagues and I was relaying the good news, saying, “Hey, he quit—the guy who’s been giving me all the trouble. I don’t have to deliver the feedback now. He’s leaving the organization.” My colleague called me on it. He said, “Mike, you failed.” And I said, “What do you mean? How did I fail? He left. The problem is gone.” And my colleague said, “You failed every member of his team because your job as a leader isn’t just leading that individual. It’s leading the entire organization. Those people were getting beaten up on a regular basis. He was hurting their morale. And they were probably looking to you to solve that issue. You failed every member of that team. You have to remember that correcting course is easier 100 yards into the journey than 100 miles. You should have had the difficult conversation sooner because you could have either corrected performance or taken appropriate disciplinary action if he didn’t change the way he was operating.”

My colleague was right. I had failed the members of that team. So this maxim reminds me that when development conversations need to happen, I need to get over the fact that it’s going to be an uncomfortable conversation. I need to just have the discussion. It’s hard to do, but this maxim has changed my behavior on several occasions. There have been times when other members of my team since then have done something that I wasn’t exactly happy with. And my initial instinct was, “Well, I’ll just wait. It’ll fix itself.” And I said, “No. My maxim says I need to go have that conversation right now.” When I’ve done that, I’ve been very happy with the result because we correct behavior, get people pointed in the right direction, and do so before the problem gets bigger.

As you think about your team and about your responsibility to build leaders, to develop and challenge people, how are you going to remind yourself to take those kinds of risks? How are you going to remind yourself to have those difficult conversations when they need to happen? Has there been a time in your past where you created a growth opportunity for somebody and they succeeded well beyond your wildest dreams? Or a time where you avoided giving some tough feedback and there were bad consequences that occurred because you didn’t step up to the plate as a leader? Within those situations is where you’re going to find your maxims. Find that trigger. Find those words that were used in that conversation or the name of the project where the person succeeded. That phrase, that trigger, is what’s going to bring you back to that situation. It’s what is going to remind you of those feelings and get you to behave in a different way.

I know my maxim does that for me. When I have that difficult situation and I think of my maxim, I remember how uncomfortable that conversation was with my colleague when he told me I had failed. I remember how embarrassed I was of my failure as a leader. Those feelings drive me to change my behavior now because I never want to be that disappointed in myself again or that embarrassed. So you know what? I’m going to take action today. That’s how having a maxim based on something in the past can drive your performance in the future.

Want to learn more about developing your leadership philosophy? How about taking an entire course on it? Go directly to the course and start learning how to develop your leadership philosophy. The entire course is available at LinkedIn Learning. Enjoy!

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

Building High Performing Teams: Empower Your People

May 1, 2024/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Leadership, Project Management, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

To build and foster a high performing team, sometimes you have to step back and let your people do their thing.

For you to get the most out of the members of your high performing team, you need to empower them. Remember, on a high performing team, those team members are typically very self-motivated, and they like being self-directed. You need to understand how letting go of your agenda, creating space for them to flourish, and then accepting that there are different ways of doing things is going to bring out the best in your people. Read more

How to Set a Stretch Goal

April 25, 2024/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Leadership, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

Once you’ve established your commit goals, you should also set stretch goals. Learn how to use the one-third, two-third method to set a stretch goal.

In addition to setting a commit goal, you should also set a stretch. A stretch goal is what’s going to push people to achieve more. It still needs to be achievable when you go back and look at SMART goals, but it won’t have a guarantee of success. More often than not, you’ll fall short of your hitting your stretch goal. If you’re always hitting your stretch, you’re not stretching far enough.

So why should you set stretch goals? Well, if you only set a commit goal, the team might coast once you reach it. They’re going to say, “Well, we hit our goal. We don’t have to push ourselves so hard. Let’s just relax and get to the end of the year.”

A stretch goal gets them to continue performing. Once they hit the commit, there’s still something more that they can go out and achieve. A stretch goal can motivate and excite people. When they hit it, it creates a sense of shared achievement that’s going to build morale and team identity. Stretch goals force people to think differently.

Many times, a commit goal is based upon what people know they can do. They don’t challenge constraints or look for new ways of doing things. A commit goal is about getting things done and doing it the way we’ve always done it. A stretch goal gets them to challenge assumptions. They’ll look at the business differently. They’re going to be willing to make large changes and they’re going to take risks to achieve that stretch. A stretch goal helps them build new skills from trying new things.

So by combining a commit goal that they can achieve and they can deliver to the organization, and a stretch goal that pushes them to improve their performance, you’re getting the best of both worlds.

The one-third, two-third method for stretch goals

I often get asked, “How can I set a good stretch goal?” I like to tell people to use the 1/3, 2/3 rule. For the gap between your commit and your stretch, your team should have a good sense for how they might close 2/3 of that gap, and no idea for where the other 1/3 will come from.

Why 1/3, 2/3? Well, if it’s more than 1/3 that they don’t know where it’s going to come from, they’re going to give up and just say, “This is too hard. I don’t have any ideas.” If it’s less than 1/3, it may be too easy and they might coast. To create this list and understand what this 1/3, 2/3 is, gather a list from your team for ideas beyond the commit and add them up.

Let’s walk through an example. Let’s say we set a commit goal of X, and now we’re trying to figure out what the stretch is. I tell the team, “I need all your best ideas for how we’re going to drive revenue beyond that commit event.” The team goes off, they come back with their ideas, and they come up with $2 million worth of ideas. Now these will be hard, but they have a reasonable idea of how they can capture $2 million. That two million is my 2/3. What I need to do next is add another third beyond that. When you look at the math, you just divide that two million in half and add it. So I would add another $1 million, and then I’d have a total stretch goal of three million. Now let’s look at that 1/3, 2/3. 2/3 of that $2 million, they have ideas. 1/3 of it, $1 million, they don’t know where it’s going to come from. They’re going to have to innovate to find that incremental $1 million.

When you set your stretch goals, following this 1/3, 2/3 rule will help you identify ideas and make that stretch feel like it’s something they can get, but it will still push them beyond the ideas they’ve already got, and hopefully drive incremental innovation.

Want to learn more about setting team and employee goals? How about taking an entire course on it? Go directly to the course and start learning how to create a culture of strategy execution. The entire course is available at LinkedIn Learning. Enjoy!

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

How to Set Commit Goals

April 17, 2024/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Leadership, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

Learn what a commit goal is and what you should consider when creating one.

When you set goals, I encourage you to set two kinds of goals. The first is a commit goal and the second is a stretch goal.

A commit goal is something you’re committing to do for the organization. If you miss it, you can get fired. There should be extreme consequences for missing a commit goal. To build your commit goal, work from the bottom up. Work directly with your team and have them make commitments to you as far as what they’re going to deliver for their goals. You’ll then need to reconcile the team’s commits and make sure they all add up to your commit to your organization.

At one point I had three different teams and we were tasked with a major cost reduction project. My boss came to me and asked me how much cost reduction would I commit to removing from the system. I went to my teams and I asked them how much cost they could take out, and I asked them for their goals. They gave me commit goals of one and a half million, two million, and three million dollars, for a total of six point five million dollars that they would commit to.

When I went to my boss, I hedged on that number a little bit and I told him I could commit to six million dollars. Now, he knew better and he knew I was hedging a little and he pushed me on it. He eventually got me to a point where we negotiated and I committed to six point two five million. Over the plan period, we exceeded that goal and we hit seven million dollars of cost reduction. Obviously there were no negative consequences for the team, but the result of having that commit was the entire team was focused on delivering six point two five. We tracked it over the course of the year. It was something that was at the top of our priority list because we knew we had to deliver it to the organization. Our commit was fed into the budgeting process at the beginning of the year and by doing so we ended up with a very accurate budget that people could plan for.

When you’re creating your commit goal, sit down with the team and make sure they understand what they’re committing to is going to have implications. The organization will plan based on that number and if they miss that number, there will be consequences for them and for you. Having that clear commit will drive the focus you need in terms of achieving a goal and making sure that the rest of the organization can plan for what you’re going to deliver.

Want to learn more about setting team and employee goals? How about taking an entire course on it? Go directly to the course and start learning how to create a culture of strategy execution. The entire course is available at LinkedIn Learning. Enjoy!

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!

Do You Set Zero-Based Goals for Yourself?

April 10, 2024/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Leadership, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

Use this common budgeting technique to set goals that are more relevant and actionable.

When you’re setting goals, you can borrow a technique from a common budgeting process called zero-based budgeting. What you do is look at last year, forget about it, and then look at where you are today and what you can achieve going forward. Every dollar you’re going to spend in the budget is justified. And every number you’re going to deliver is based on your current reality. Read more

Values First—Then Culture

April 8, 2024/0 Comments/in Books, Business Toolkit, Guest Blogger, Innovation, Leadership, Training /by Trevor Jones

Dr. Sam Adeyemi reveals the six secrets to an enviable working culture for values-driven leaders and C-suite executives.

Today’s guest post is by Dr. Sam Adeyemi, author of “Dear Leader: Your Flagship Guide to Successful Leadership.”

6 Secrets to Creating an Enviable Working Environment

If your organization were a mechanic, your working culture would be the tools of your trade. Is your circuit tester compatible? Are your pliers and ratchets in good repair?

Companies with successful working cultures believe in the future of their success, and 47% of these organizations actually see significant annual upticks in revenue thanks to their improved working atmosphere. So how does an executive build an uplifting and attractive professional environment? Here are six secrets to creating an enviable working culture.

1. Values that are defined.

Dictionaries have been around for over 4,000 years. The Akkadian Empire of Ancient Syria chiseled stone tablets that functioned like translation tools, or bilingual glossaries. By 200 BCE, Ancient China had produced the Erya, a dictionary, thesaurus, and encyclopedia rolled into one. Why? Because clarity is essential.

Defining your personal and organizational values is where it all begins. In fact, around 95% of employees say they don’t even understand their company’s overall strategy. Creating a positive working culture is never easy, but a well-defined and value-driven perspective makes every difficult decision along the way just a bit easier. How is our time usually spent? How are our resources typically allocated? These are easy-to-define indicators that provide us with useful insights into what matters most to our organizations — and to us as leaders and executives.

2. Values that are aligned.

In eight-person rowing, or crew as it is often called in the United States, the coxswain sits at the front of the boat, facing the other members of the team. Equipped with a waterproof megaphone, it is their job to steer the boat and keep the group in rhythm. Without an effective coxswain, a team can’t possibly hope to lead the pack.

It’s important that you and your team commit wholeheartedly to your organization’s goals. Such dedication not only increases productivity and performance, but it also makes it easier for your employees to get happy and stay happy. So, how do you achieve this level of commitment? By aligning your organization’s values with the individual values and motivations of your team members. This doesn’t mean making any unnecessary or uncomfortable compromises. It does, however, mean taking a long look at how one set of values can serve the other — and vice versa.

3. Values that are modeled.

Role models are undeniably powerful. We already know they have a profound impact on children, and recent studies show that observing modeled behavior can improve self-control among adults and inspire new behaviors. Simply put, setting the right example can lead to big changes.

How you interact with your organization’s values is your forward-facing testament to what matters. These interactions can influence your workplace expectations, day-to-day routines, and overall vision. For example, if your executives are not willing to live up to a certain standard themselves, then they should never expect it from their employees. When you model and embody the values that you demand from others, you are much more likely to receive support and inspire in-house ambassadors of your own.

4. Values that are widespread.

The typical stages of technology adoption are divided into two basic groups: early market and mainstream market. To progress from one to the other, a new technology needs to cross a chasm between the early adopters and the early majority. Those technologies that fail to bridge the gap never achieve mainstream success.

At the end of the day, your organization’s values can’t make a serious impact on your working culture unless they’re adopted en masse. No matter the industry, your organization is an interdependent system of professionals — a team working together. Each person and department has its own sphere of influence, meaning you need buy-in at every level before any set of values will begin to prevail within the system.

5. Values that attract top talent.

Most everyone has heard that “you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.” The phrase is an English proverb that dates back to the 1600s. It is a staunch reminder that kindness is rewarded, and that you only attract that which you are able to entice.

In an ideal world, your values should be as famous as your brand. Your organization’s priorities should be a known quantity, and these priorities should create a working culture that is attractive to the most sought-after talent in your industry. If your values are already defined, aligned, and modeled across the board, these character-driven professionals will serve to further bolster your brand — and the values attached to it.

6. Values that reward the right people.

Before the Code of Hammurabi appeared in 1750 BCE, no society possessed a consistent and recorded set of laws. Every case was decided individually, which meant legal proceedings were both wildly unfair and increasingly chaotic. That said, once the code was inscribed on a basalt slab, the “rule of righteousness” had begun.

Rewards and reprimands are essential to managing your team’s morale. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to ensure consistency with any values-driven reinforcement if your organization hasn’t thoughtfully outlined values that promote the right behavior. Employees want to correct their mistakes. Employees want to reach for and celebrate their successes. Still, it’s important that your organization’s values reward this behavior when it’s happening and encourage course corrections when these standards are neglected.

Atlanta-based Dr. Sam Adeyemi (SAY: Ah Day yeh me) is CEO of Sam Adeyemi, GLC, Inc. and founder and executive director of Daystar Leadership Academy (DLA). More than 45,000 alumni have graduated from DLA programs, and more than 3 million CEOs and high performing individuals follow him on top social media sites. Dr. Sam’s new book is “Dear Leader: Your Flagship Guide to Successful Leadership.” He holds a Doctorate in Strategic Leadership from Virginia’s Regent University, and is a member of the International Leadership Association. He and his wife, Nike (say Nee keh) have three children. Learn more at SamAdeyemi.com.

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Focusing and Eliminating Distractions

April 3, 2024/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Leadership, Strategy, Training /by Trevor Jones

Learn how to identify distractions and focus your team on the most strategically important initiatives for your organization.

In a fast paced world, there is no shortage of distractions. Side projects, interesting new ideas, and the crisis of the day can divert resources from key strategic initiatives. In isolation, pursuing these small ideas make sense, but when you put them in the broader context of your strategic initiatives, you get to see exactly how nonstrategic these distractions are. You have to remind people of their priorities. Eliminate these resource-draining distractions. Chasing these ideas prevents your strategy from being executed. Read more