Last week I posed that question to a webinar audience of nearly 200 leaders and the response horrified me!
95% of respondents said Yes!!
I have also had that experience in my career - I often said I trusted the CEO as far as I could throw her! And I know that operating in that environment drained my motivation and diminished my performance.
Asking the webinar attendees how they felt during this period of their career delivered some illuminating responses:
“like a pawn in a game”
“disengaged and anxious”
“unsupported and reluctant to share information”
“exposed”
“a lot of wasted energy”
“paranoia: am I being gaslit?”
Now common sense tells us that if this is how we feel then we are not doing our best work so as a leader it is critical that you think about how you build trust.
At the heart of trust is the sense that a leader is walking their talk and that their actions are aligned with their articulated values – your personal values need to be seen in your behaviours.
And nothing is more useless than a list of corporate values on a poster on the wall if they are not being put into action everyday. These organisational values need to be clearly understood in terms of the associated behaviours because the behaviour you tolerate from your team members signals what the values are regardless of what the words on the wall say.
So when I ask if you are walking your talk that begs the question: What is your leadership talk? What are the values which are important to you and how do you intend to bring them to your leadership role?
If this is something you are struggling to identify then I invite you to download this exercise and if you are already clear on your values I encourage you to reflect on how you articulate them at work.
I would love to hear how you go with this exercise and what you learn about yourself in the process.
With love,
Sue
95% of respondents said Yes!!
I have also had that experience in my career - I often said I trusted the CEO as far as I could throw her! And I know that operating in that environment drained my motivation and diminished my performance.
Asking the webinar attendees how they felt during this period of their career delivered some illuminating responses:
“like a pawn in a game”
“disengaged and anxious”
“unsupported and reluctant to share information”
“exposed”
“a lot of wasted energy”
“paranoia: am I being gaslit?”
Now common sense tells us that if this is how we feel then we are not doing our best work so as a leader it is critical that you think about how you build trust.
At the heart of trust is the sense that a leader is walking their talk and that their actions are aligned with their articulated values – your personal values need to be seen in your behaviours.
And nothing is more useless than a list of corporate values on a poster on the wall if they are not being put into action everyday. These organisational values need to be clearly understood in terms of the associated behaviours because the behaviour you tolerate from your team members signals what the values are regardless of what the words on the wall say.
So when I ask if you are walking your talk that begs the question: What is your leadership talk? What are the values which are important to you and how do you intend to bring them to your leadership role?
If this is something you are struggling to identify then I invite you to download this exercise and if you are already clear on your values I encourage you to reflect on how you articulate them at work.
I would love to hear how you go with this exercise and what you learn about yourself in the process.
With love,
Sue
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