No Good Reason for Compromising Our Values

I’ll say it again: even the most talented individuals rarely form a great team without clear values serving as the foundation. For more than two decades, I’ve heard John Maxwell emphasize how “everything rises and falls on leadership.” When it comes to building a foundation on those values, those of us who accept the responsibility that comes with each of the most senior roles in our organizations will indeed be viewed as leaders - whether we’ve earned true influence with the team reporting to us or not. And our actions in those leadership roles most definitely set the tone for the behavior of each individual, which in turn determines what we have around us: a cohesive team or a group of individual performers looking out for their own best interests…

I can’t think of an organization that doesn’t place at least some level of priority on integrity, even if that’s not one of the core values painted on the wall. If we define that as doing the right thing, no matter what, but make decisions that directly conflict with that out of fear that a competitor may sneak in to take some of our business, how are our most motivated employees likely to follow suit? Let’s be honest, people do what people see. In every for-profit business I’ve ever seen, there’s a significant need for getting and keeping business; that’s how the lights stay on! If an executive twists the definition of integrity to justify how they’ve staved off potential competition while subtly crossing the line on what they’ve held up as integrous business practice, many folks reporting to them will see that as permission to push the envelope even more. While there will always be some people in the organization who will take the high road, regardless of any executive’s example, they’re level of commitment to engaging with the rest of the team will drop off over time.

All organizations, including those in government, have a responsibility to provide service to their customers and clients. As a quick side note, I suppose one could argue that most government organizations seem to view service more in veterinary terms (if you catch my drift). If that happens to be listed as one of our core values, defined as prioritizing others but our decisions in leadership roles are routinely based on what makes us look best while slightly, even if not openly or intentionally, undermining our partners, is it reasonable to expect others in our organization to follow suit? We both know the answer to that as well…

In an environment where individual performance is incentivized, even the most innocent cases of tip-toeing around what we point to as our core values to justify choosing the easy right over the harder wrong serves as permission for everyone else to wiggle the definitions around as they need to in order to fit their actions, especially when those actions yield immediate financial return. That kind of culture certainly attracts high performers who are willing to do anything for a buck, but that will not build a high performing team that gets results consistently long term. Even the slightest variances from our values, especially when exemplified by those in leadership roles, will eat away at any hope of creating a cohesive team and it’s what Simon Sinek referred to in The Infinite Game as “an infection that festers over time.” 

Before working through exactly what we need to do so our values help build a great team with top-tier talent, we need to have a clear picture of how talent alone doesn’t guarantee organizational results so that’s where we’ll pick up next time.