We talk a lot about showing respect, providing excellent customer service, empowering people, developing high performing teams, building trusting relationships and creating motivating and challenging environments. This article examines how living up to some of the most common organizational values requires that we use some very specific behaviours, few of which come easily.
Talk is cheap. Walking the talk is a different proposition, and the problem with values is that what you say about them is irrelevant. It's what you do about them that counts. Here are some of the values that organisations most commonly aspire to. How well do you walk the talk?
A universal way of showing Respect is to listen. Listening conveys respect regardless of differences in culture, language, gender orage. How well do you listen? Do you really listen to the youngest or newest member of your team; to people with whom you disagree; to customers who are consistently irate; or when you just KNOW what someone is going to say? It's OK not to listen; but if you don't, you can't claim to be respectful.
We admire people who behave with Integrity. What do they do that makes them different and special from others? Mostly they behave consistently, they keep their promises and stick to their words. One of the behaviours they use is that of saying "No" to avoid compromising their integrity. Few of us are prepared to say "No" when faced with someone in authority or someone who really needs help. Often we do not have the skills to communicate our real feelings and are afraid of the consequences, or at the very least of being thought unhelpful or uncaring. Your integrity can rest on one word, "No"!
Encouraging the Personal growth of people means agreeing on goals and targets, giving them feedback on how they are doing and then holding them accountable for their achievements. When people are asked about the one question to which they would like an honest answer in the workplace, they most often answer, "I'd like to know how I'm doing". But in the course of a lifetime of work, many say that they have never received a really honest answer to this question. How frequently and honestly do you give feedback? Have you ever shirked on feedback and coaching to get to disciplinary action? If you have, you have withheld the most important information people need as a basis for improving their performance and you cannot claim to live up to the value of encouraging the personal growth of those around you.
Without Innovation we are unable to adapt to changing circumstances. We accept, in theory at least, that the oldest, most experienced and most senior member of a team doesn't always have the most creative ideas. Why then do senior people insist on giving others their ideas, instead of learning to use probing incisive questions that help people think for themselves, coupled with careful listening to their answers? Are you guilty of giving people your ideas instead of helping them develop their own?
You simply can't Build Relationships with customers or colleagues if you can't do empathy! Empathy is used to acknowledge the feelings of others. Using it effectively is the only sure way to defuse anger and negativity. Excellent customer service, effective teamwork, and good leadership are impossible without it. In spite of that, it's not often used in the corporate world. How sensitive are you to the feelings of others? Are you willing to acknowledge those feelings? Are you able to talk about them when it is appropriate? How effectively do you relate to those around you?
Examine the values to which your organisation aspires. You might find that you need to be a little more circumspect in talking about them, and that you need to change some of your own behaviour if you are to claim that you are walking the talk.
