Detailing Why, Over and Over…

As we wrapped up our look at who ultimately cares about our values, and how much our organization’s entire reputation rests on them, I emphasized the importance of modeling our values and explaining why - because we can’t just assume the general public will piece it all together on their own; they’re busy chasing their own rabbits… Truth be told, we need to be just as intentional about providing that same kind of detail for everyone inside our organizations too.

Over the last few years, Cindy and I have shared a lesson called “Building Buy-In Around a Clear Mission & Vision” with no less than a thousand leaders with several hundred companies across the United States. In that message, we stress making sure each team member is not only familiar with the fancy mission and vision statements that are so often displayed prominently in the lobby for the world to see, but they have clarity around how their individual responsibilities help achieve the mission and vision. We hit on values during that session as well, but the reality is that values have to be firmly in place at every level of our organization to have any chance of sustaining the behaviors necessary for achieving the mission and vision.The challenge I see leaders struggle with frequently is feeling like they’re beating a dead horse as they’re including specifics about their values over and over and over again, be it in routine one-on-one conversations or in larger settings with their entire teams. When it comes to our values, though, there’s no such thing as talking about them too much!

Twice to this point, as we looked at ways we can rally our team around our values and again when working through how we model our values for everyone to see, I mentioned something in passing that many of us likely take for granted today; at least those of us who have come to love God’s chicken sandwich. In yet another conversation with Jeff Henderson, who worked directly for Truett Cathy earlier in his career, he shared the story behind the “My Pleasure” that you and I have become so dependent on as we wrap up our short stint in line at Chick-fil-A. Before I move on though, do you know what happens when a Chick-fil-A employee forgets to say that today? Do yourself a favor and check that out on YouTube…

Jeff shared that Mr. Cathy had his own initial “My Pleasure” experience while staying at a Ritz Carlton. Truett said it just felt better than hearing the traditional “You’re welcome”, or even worse, “No problem” after thanking someone for their service. That was one of many things that set his experience apart from stays at other hotels, which prompted him to begin working to implement the phrase within the Chick-fil-A culture. Let’s be honest, receiving that “My Pleasure” response does feel a lot better than having someone grunt “No problem” as we get the wrong food and no milkshake after being held hostage for a week and a half in the McDonald’s drive through… With him being the founder of the company that brought us God’s chicken sandwich and building a culture that provides an experience that was previously unheard of in the fast food sector, one could easily assume that when he so much as suggested the idea of replacing “You’re welcome” with “My Pleasure,” the heavens opened every single person even remotely affiliated with the organization fell right in line - and one would be wrong! From the time he first shared the idea internally, it took Truett Cathy ten full years of explaining exactly why he wanted the Chick-fil-A organization to be known that way. Not only did he have to model a seemingly simple request routinely himself, he had to provide explicit detail around how, when, and why each team member should be using that response themselves. But ten years? Holy cow!

Galatians 6:9 says, “let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, IF we faint not.” Drive past any Chick-fil-A around lunchtime and it’s easy to see that the Cathy family, as well as the owner of each store, has made it to that “due season” part. Had Truett let up on his expectation for “My Pleasure” to be the automatic response to any version of “Thank you” after even nine years, it may not be what we’re accustomed to today. If it took him that long for this to permeate his company, isn’t it fair to expect we’ll need to be willing to pound the drum over and over, detailing why we’ve chosen the behaviors we use to model our values and exactly how each team member can do the same while fulfilling their responsibilities? Keeping it simple helps us get the ball rolling. Explaining it clearly will be a difference-maker in whether our teams internalize our message, so that’s what we’ll work through next.