Welcome to the May issue of The Total Leader® Newsletter from LMI UK, The VALUES issue.
You’ll no doubt have heard the oft-quoted saying, “How you do anything is how you do everything.” There’s a caveat to this of course. For all kinds of reasons, we may all have moments of weakness or failure that are genuinely out of character. However, it’s generally the case that the way a person behaves – especially the way they treat others – is consistent, and based on their values.
A set of values is simply a description of how we intend to behave, either as a group (team, company, organisation) or individually. In other words, the reminder to ourselves of “how we do everything.”
We trust you’ll find this newsletter interesting, inspiring and practically helpful in your own leadership journey. For best results, take some time out to digest, reflect and take action.
What is values-based leadership?
Values-based leadership is a style of leadership that emphasises an individual's commitment to certain core values, which inform their decision-making and guide their behaviour. This type of leadership recognises that leaders must not only focus on achieving specific outcomes or goals, but also on how those goals are achieved.
In values-based leadership, the leader's personal values become the foundation for their leadership style. These values could include things like honesty, integrity, accountability, respect, fairness, and empathy. Leaders who operate from a values-based perspective seek to align their decisions and actions with these values and use them as a framework for creating a positive work environment and achieving success.
Reflection
Have you clearly defined your own personal values?
If so, to what extent are these values informing your decision-making and guiding your behaviour?
The Corner Stones of values-based leadership?
Truly effective leaders understand that no leader can convince team members to become something the leader is not. The old expression, “Do as I say, not as I do” carries no weight in an environment that strives to motivate team members. Leaders who want passion, trust, commitment, and honesty from team members must first develop these as values for themselves. Effective leaders understand that purpose is the ignition to passion, integrity is a prerequisite for trust, service to others generates commitment to the team and the organisation, and stewardship ensures that team members develop their potential. To ignite passion, trust, commitment, and loyalty, leaders would be wise to consider these four cornerstone values: purpose, integrity, service, and stewardship.
Purpose.
Purpose provides the “why.” Your purpose is why you are doing what you are doing. When you know why a person is doing something, it enables you to understand that person’s intentions, motives, and priorities. People don’t work just to have something to do, they want to make a difference, they want to contribute to something they believe in and are passionate about. Only a noble, worthy purpose will fan the flame of passion.
Integrity.
Leaders are required to be individuals worthy of trust and genuine respect among those they lead. Leaders are at their best when they first learn and master personal leadership – leading themselves – before they can truly master leading others. The root of “integrity” is an integer – a complete, whole, indivisible number. Leaders with integrity live complete, whole, well-balanced lives. Numerous studies have shown that team members consistently regard integrity and honesty as the most important qualities they desire in their leaders. Leaders with integrity display consistent thoughts and actions; their words and deeds do not contradict each other. Team members want to know that their leaders will do what they say they are going to do and that they will keep their commitments.
Service.
Values-based leaders succeed because they desire to be of service. Leaders who respond to challenges with a commitment to service empower their people to grow and prosper. An attitude of service must start with the leader. When top leaders demonstrate that they genuinely care about the people they lead, their team members will respond in the same manner. The end result: team members who want to be of service to customers and customers, who in turn, become raving fans. Both customers and team members will go where they feel welcome and stay where they are valued and appreciated.
Stewardship.
Leaders who are committed to service develop a strong sense of responsibility, or stewardship, over the resources and assets they have in their charge. A steward places emphasis not just on the financial assets, but also on the invaluable, intangible assets of an organisation. The collective talent of team members is recognised as the core resource of any company or organization. True stewardship acknowledges human potential as the organisation’s most important asset. In organisations that fail, effective stewardship has been the Achilles’ heel of management. Some leaders are simply unable to sacrifice their own needs and desires for those of their team, even if that sacrifice would be for the good of the group. Short-term pressures easily crowd out long-term concerns for developing people and their talents. The inevitable result of this short-sighted approach is that you will have team members who feel unappreciated and unwanted, and who fail to deliver their maximum contribution to the organisation. Successful leaders believe stewardship is a vital, permanent part of their management effort. This is because they see their team members as repositories of human potential. As stewards of this incredible untapped potential, values-based leaders feel an ongoing responsibility to help team members grow and develop in all areas of life. Leading an organisation and embracing these core values on a daily basis is not easy. It takes clear focus, unwavering commitment, and regular reminders that “How you do anything is how you do everything.”
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
Martin Luther King Jr.
Bite-size Total Leader®
Leaders are faced continually with multiple, diverse situations and developing in all four core leadership elements gives a distinct advantage - like an actor who can convey the whole range of emotions, or a golfer who is brilliant from the rough or a bunker as well as off the tee.
In this section you’ll find practical bite-size ideas across the four elements of the Total Leader® that can help sharpen your own leadership skills in line with the topic discussed in this edition of the newsletter.
1. Personal Productivity
A retrospective study of how you use your time is one of the best ways to evaluate the degree to which your values are impacting your day-to-day activities. Listening to team members and taking an interest in their development is a value? Spending quality time with family members? How much time did you spend doing that last week? A one-week time analysis exercise helps you to identify and rectify any reality gaps.
2. Personal Leadership
Personal leadership begins with defining your own purpose and values. Establish a clear picture of the person you want to be, deciding on and practicing the behaviours that turn intent into consistent character. Authentic leaders have clear values and live true to them, in tough times as well as good.
3. Motivational Leadership
Team and organisational values are a collective agreement about ‘how we do things around here.’ When corporate values are painted on the wall and displayed on the company mugs but not lived out by senior leadership, it is very damaging. Involve the whole team in discussions about values, not just initially but ongoing. Celebrate examples of values in action. Create a culture where all staff feel empowered to challenge when values are violated.
4. Strategic Leadership
Strategy and values go hand-in-hand. Strategy is the outworking of purpose. Values ensure that strategy’s ‘what’ is rooted in the ‘how’ of what you want to achieve. Make the ‘how’ as much a part of your leadership discussions as the ‘what.’
Leadership development is not a one-off event and leadership is not simply a role or title, rather it’s a way of thinking and behaving. The best leaders are Total Leaders® and the most successful organisations develop leaders throughout the entire organisation.
Our Purpose: Developing leaders and organisations to their full potential
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Foundations of Success Workshop
(2 hour online - goals / planning / time management / communication
23rd May & 23rd June
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Total Leader Part 1: Effective Personal Productivity kick off (Online open programme)
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