Sustaining High Expectations Around Our Values

Setting high expectations for modeling our core company values is a must. That said, getting our teams to perform at that level on a routine basis will only happen if we’re willing to establish a culture of accountability. Make no mistake, I’m not suggesting this is based solely on enforcing discipline, but creating an atmosphere where each team member knows exactly what’s expected from them, why it matters, and the specific ramifications of what they do to exemplify our values as well as when they miss the mark. Without that kind of accountability in place, anytime we rant about the importance of our values will eventually be viewed as empty talk…

While most of what I shared just prior to this was focused on helping the individuals on our teams build habits for building our values into their daily tasks, each thing they do personally contributes directly to the results our organization achieves as a whole. Establishing accountability with each team member, from the newest and least experienced to the most senior and highly skilled, does indeed set the tone for the results they achieve in their own role but it does so much more; that’s how our internal culture builds around what we’ve defined as our core values.

If Truett Cathy would have backed off his insistence on saying “My Pleasure” with his most tenured drink-filler-upper, what message would he have sent to the trainees? And what Craig allowed his son to be rude to their team members or customers? Would others around them have bought into any of their core values, let alone family?

When we, as leaders, are willing to develop the discipline within ourselves to establish and maintain accountability for living out our values in every role within our company, we’re able to transform the actions of each team member into an internal culture that perpetuates itself. That said, failing to discipline ourselves that way perpetuates in our culture, too - just not in a way we’ll be very excited to accept responsibility for, and it usually happens much faster.

When we can create accountability around our values, and do it consistently for long enough that we begin to see it take root within our culture, we’ll be well on our way to building a strong external reputation that our organization is known for far and wide. And since this never happens as quickly as we’d like, our efforts to keep the importance of each value in front of our teams will need to be ongoing and we’ll need to help them develop a clear picture of the legacy we’re working toward. We’ll look at how we can do that next!