Before we walk through a few steps we can take to remove every bit of ambiguity we possibly can from the core values our organization operates on, let’s tackle an issue every leader faces at one point or another: even when we detail exactly what “doing good” looks like for each of our team members, ...
I started my first full time job just after turning fifteen years old and, as they say, the rest is history… But that history makes for a good story every now and then! In this case, the story won’t be all that funny but it’s certainly relevant why it’s so important for us to remove the ambiguity th...
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 en...
Since that large tech firm’s “staggering $75 million loss attributed to misaligned goals and unclear expectations” that I’ve referenced twice now could be a bit more than you or I will experience in our own roles, let’s make it a bit more personal and consider what our numbers could be… First though...
Each time we kick off our Emerging Leader Development course, Cindy and I open with a slide detailing the importance of having and exemplifying core business values. In one of the first we ever provided on site for a large organization, Cindy shared her experience serving on the Maxwell Leadership P...
How many times have you provided one of your team members with directions for completing a task you needed their help getting wrapped up by a certain time, only to get something far different from what you had hoped or miss the mark entirely? I’m sure we’ve all been on both ends of scenarios like th...
In March, April, and May of 1996, I received a tremendous amount of one-on-one training on how to operate the various pieces of equipment I was assigned to. Initially, someone else was responsible for swapping out the tooling and dies after each order I completed so the next part could be made. For ...
For us to come to terms with why some many organizations miss the mark on providing a clear and consistent picture of the values listed in their policy manual or on their website, I think we need to take a look at what we do emphasize clearly and consistently with our teams. In the nearly two decade...
I can point to dozens of powerful lessons I learned in the decade and a half I had direct involvement in behavior-based safety. While the initiative was focused on identifying and decreasing the risks the workforce was exposed to, it provided a hands-on look at why people do what they do. I’d put th...
As an organization, Enron had indeed identified their values:
Respect: We treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves. We do not tolerate abusive or disrespectful treatment. Ruthlessness, callousness and arrogance don't belong here.
Integrity: We work with customers and prospects openl...
In early December of 2001, I was just getting my feet under me in the behavior-based safety role I had accepted in the spring of that year, doing all I could to take care of our young family, and still reeling a bit from our freedom being attacked just a few months prior. I remember seeing the headl...
Before we dig into the challenges that come with “core values so generic that they could easily serve as fodder for a Dilbert cartoon,” and we’ll work through that in specific detail soon enough, we need to think about how that could ever be the case when “more than three-quarters of CEOs interviewe...
