Removing the Ambiguity

If we want to have any chance of removing the ambiguity that too frequently surrounds the values listed on our conference room walls and detailed through the first few pages of our employee handbooks we’d better be sharing specific examples of what those core values look like in the workplace. To ensure our team members know exactly what those values mean, and how each relates to what they do daily, it’s up to us (as leaders) to share examples of what our company values look like in action.

Early in our Emerging Leader Development course, and as frequently as I can find a reason to otherwise, I share what John Maxwell told me and a couple hundred other folks during a small session in Orlando just before a larger event to certify a few thousand people from around the world to use his material. John emphasized that, once we completed the licensing process to train on the content he had poured his life into, he expected each of us to always exceed the expectations of every client we worked with. He went on to share these numbers: “80% of people fall short of what’s expected, around 15% do just what’s expected, and only 5% will ever put in the extra work to exceed expectations.” The point I make after repeating John’s statistics is that we won’t have much competition when we’re willing to consistently work to be in the 5% who exceed expectations. Truth be told, I’m convinced the percentage we’re competing with has decreased significantly since he shared that with us in August 2015!

Never one to set an expectation without providing a clear explanation of how we could achieve it, John went on to teach those of us in that small group a short but powerful lesson on how he works with each organization he serves to be sure he understands exactly what they expect from him and how he identifies ways he can deliver more than they expect. While the first step was simply asking the client to share their expectation, he went on to ask specific questions around their response to develop a clear picture of what results they hoped to achieve afterward. Understanding their goals, and learning key details about their organization, allows him to tailor his message to be more applicable to everyone in the audience. If you’ve seen John speak with various groups, using similar stories or points to connect in different ways, you can bet those tweaks have been based on what he learned from his host in advance when he asked what they expected from him.

That quick lesson has served me and Cindy extremely well over the last decade. Without having a specific understanding of what someone expects us to deliver (in writing), we’ve found that it’s rarely worth providing a rough price structure. Even if there’s an initial agreement on price, it’s incredibly hard to hit a target that has yet to be identified. While this can be a bit abstract with what we do, it’s certainly not in most businesses. Think about it, would you ever ask a contractor to price a building without providing the size, location, and at least a rough idea of the materials involved? 

With all that in mind, let’s think about what most organizations do when sharing their core values… How much detail do we provide for the folks we’re onboarding to ensure they understand how they can uphold those values? And what are we doing to help the folks who have been with us for years stay dialed in on those values? Unfortunately, I’ve seen far too many scenarios where team members aren’t even provided with clarity around how their work stacks up against performance metrics. If that’s unclear, I can’t imagine they’d have much chance of tying any of it to the organization’s values - so we’ll begin digging into that next!