In a growing environment, having set values for leadership and team members to refer to is key. Presenting the values for the first time requires planning and a solid message of what you are trying to accomplish. The adoption of these values takes time. Ongoing examples and reinforcement of specific values with real world situations reinforces your goals.
Assume Positive Intent – Everyone in the organization should be adopting this value. So many times, we are too focused on leaders and how they are demonstrating values. A couple examples of assuming positive intent:
First thought from leader – you have observed that a team member is not working throughout the day. Assuming positive intent, you have taken the time to meet with that team member and you have uncovered that they have been asked to perform a duty that they do not fully understand. This results in the leader being able to provide additional training which results in higher productivity throughout the day.
First thought from a team member – team member has a question for their supervisor; however, their supervisor is unavailable at the time. Assuming positive intent is that the Supervisor is juggling a lot of tasks at any given time, and they are not being dismissive of the team member’s request, but rather that they are being thoughtful about the time they are allowing to fully research and respond to the question.
2. Demonstrate Empathy – there are many situations that can set the tone for the relationship between the leader those that they lead. Many times, it is when a team member has a personal issue that they are working through. A leader has a choice to make; they can either react quickly and not show understanding, sensitivity, and compassion or respond thoughtfully and remove all other work-related priorities from the conversation. These situations, many times, make or break a relationship.
3. Seek to Understand –Many times we will draw conclusions without understanding each situation. The most important first step is to engage with your team members and let them talk. Stick to the facts of the situation, and work to understand they why behind the situation. Ask questions – “what’s going on?”. By doing this, you are allowing the details of the situation to naturally come forth when a team member is provided the opportunity. Many times, the conversation itself resolves almost all the issues.
4. Foster Positive Energy – a workplace filled with negative energy stemming from micromanaging and rude behavior is not a productive one. Over all my years of leading teams, this one is hard. Leaders have things that they are dealing with on a daily basis that are either work or home related. When meeting with team members on a 1:1 or even in a team meeting, you need to remember that while you may have multiple interactions with team members throughout the day or week, that from the team members’ point of view it is the only interaction they are having with you and that interaction is going to be remembered differently by each team member. It is important that you are on point for these types of conversations, and this takes practice as you get to know your people and get in the right mindset for each interaction.
5. Be Respectful – It is important in every situation to set the tone for the conversation. Like all the values we have talked about previously, it is important to approach any subject respectfully. It is important that we all get to know one another and that we value people who have different opinions or perspectives. Even if we do not agree with one another, it is important that we keep our minds open and that we work together to come to a common ground. In a given moment, it can sometimes be easy to forget that you are all there for one common purpose, so it is important to make sure that we are working together to achieve those goals.
Values serve a great purpose and practicing them is vital to an organization’s success. It is very important to note that these values are for all team members to adopt and practice, not just those in a leadership position, as interactions with peers and other team members throughout the day happen more than those with the leaders of an organization.