For those of you who
have participated in any of my facilitated
Partnering
workshops, you will know that I have the project team develop shared
Values to guide their behavior for the project. Strategic
planning always begins with the first step of developing (or
reviewing) the company's Mission, Vision, and Values.
Take a look at the
quote above from the Northern Pipe Products website. This is just
one of their stated organizational values. If you worked at NPP, how
would you expect to be treated? How do you think others would
expect to be treated by you?
Did you know that
our Values guide our behaviors? One of the first, best
steps for self-understanding and to improve your leadership, work,
and team effectiveness is to know what your core values are, why
they are important to you, and how your behavior reflects (or not)
these values. If there is misalignment between your espoused
values (what you say they are) and your expressed values
(what you actually do), there's bound to be consequences!
Do this simple exercise (or access the word document by
clicking here):
1) List your top three
values. (Start with your top ten, then narrow down to three.)
2) Now describe your
beliefs around each value. That is, why is this value important
to you?
3) Last, list the
things that you do that express how you live each value. How
do you behave?
Another way to approach
this is to ask yourself the "why?" question for specific behaviors.
A personal example: Why do I drive my child to school
every day, even though she could take the bus? Well, I like to have
some alone time with her; even though we may not talk, we at least
have time being together without anything else going on. Why
do I want this? I value our relationship and I will
sacrifice some time and effort on my part to accomplish this.
Now ask yourself
this question: Do my behaviors line up with what I say
are my personal values? If not completely, how can I
enhance how I express my values?
What people will notice, of course, is not what we say, but
what we do - how we behave. And this reflects our own
authenticity and how authentic we are perceived by others.
A true leader is
authentic in his/her actions. Your team and co-workers know this,
and they may express it to others behind our backs... "She
says that we can talk to her whenever we want, but she always has
her door closed..." So, how does what you say
align with what you do?
Authenticity builds trust. When your team and co-workers trust
you, they will themselves become more authentic, self-expressive,
and effective in their relationships and communications.
I now challenge you to
go back to the project, team, or organizational values that were
written down so many months ago. What do these values say
about how you should act? Are you acting appropriately, or
have your behaviors "slipped" a bit? Maybe it's time to re-visit
those values and behaviors with your team, leadership, or
co-workers!
To learn more about
Values and how they affect Culture and organizational effectiveness,
click here.
To read another essay
about values,
click here.
Do you have some
questions or thoughts about this? Your own experiences? Send me a
note:
inquiry@synergybuilders.com.
Wherever there are two
or more people, conflict will
occur, and whether it is a
business-related issue or a personal
“disagreement,” how you deal with
these conflicts will affect your
relationships, your personal and
organizational effectiveness, and your
project and business outcomes.
The next public seminar on
Managing Conflict in
the Workplace is May 10-11 (1 1/2 days total), in
Austin, Texas.
The full 1 1/2 day seminar includes:
1) "How to Resolve Conflict with Others"
and,
2) "How to Manage Workplace Conflict"
Seminar #1, "How to
Resolve Conflict with Others"
may be taken separately. Seminar #1
is a pre-requisite for Seminar #2, "How to Manage
Workplace Conflict."
Carol Warkoczewski is a certified trainer
with the
Mediation Training Institute.
To register:
Telephone:
(512) 263-5521
or Email:
inquiry@synergybuilders.com
(Credit cards
accepted. Time-payments can be arranged.)
Special Pricing available: Click here
