As we know, the world of business can change rapidly. And as we’re being drawn into the demands of the everyday, it can be easy to lose sight of the organization’s values.

But it’s when we become overwhelmed and stressed and challenged that we need to lean into those chosen values the most.

Otherwise, we risk running an organization that is based on empty promises.

We need to continue to prioritize the values to not only foster a positive workplace culture but also drive long-term success. To truly make values thrive, we must actively create an environment where they are not just words but rather they are integral to every aspect of the business.

So what can leaders do to help create an environment where values thrive?

Review your core values

We need to start at the beginning. We need to start with reviewing the core values because before values can thrive, they need to be well-defined and still relevant. Start by revisiting those core values. Are they still...

In one of the recent episodes, I talked about ensuring that your new leaders were both technically proficient as well as effective.

And in response to that, I was asked, what about cultural differences and background in the team or with the new leader and what about levels of experience and skills and the difficulty to reconcile them?

Again, thank you so much for the question!

Because I felt that these were two complementary topics, I chose to address them separately. In Part I, which was the previous episode, I answered “What about levels of experience and skills and the difficulty to reconcile them?”

And, now, for Part II, let’s answer what can new leaders do to help address varying levels of experience and skills and the difficulty in reconciling them within a team?

Begin with an assessment

Start by addressing the various levels of experience and skills within the team by reviewing who is in your team. The needs will be different. The time commitments will be...

Recently, I talked about ensuring that your new leaders were both technically proficient as well as effective.

And in response to that, I was asked, what about cultural differences and background in the team or with the new leader and what about levels of experience and skills and the difficulty to reconcile them?

First, thank you so much for the question.

Second, let’s talk about it!

I feel that there are really two distinct topics here, and, therefore, I’ll divide them in two parts.

So for Part I, let’s answer what can new leaders do to help address cultural differences and backgrounds between themselves and/or the team?

Start learning

Like many leaders, I am not a DE&I expert. Although I do my best to educate myself in terms of diversity, equity, and inclusion, it is not my specialty. And the risk, of course, as we know it, is in the unknown unknowns. As in what do I not know that I don't know?

Personally, to get help with that, I have turned to hiring...

Typically an organization's mission and core values are shared with new team members as part of some form of onboarding activity.

Then, they may be repeated at a yearly meeting of sorts. And maybe at that yearly meeting of sorts there's also going to be goal sharing and various ways that progress will be measured.

And for most organizations, that's pretty much the extent of the team member's exposure to ongoing strategy, the mission, and the values.

Basically, “Here's how we're going to measure and here's where we're going.” And that's pretty much it. It's sporadic and it's vague.

So what can a leader do to help create more opportunities for team members to connect with that broader picture?

Make sure the elements are clear

The very first thing to verify is whether the elements are clear. Do individual team members understand what is the organization's vision, its mission, and its goals?

It's one thing to share these with the team. It’s another to know that they...

Like many leadership skills, having the ability to build trust begins with recognizing the importance of this activity and understanding the necessity to behave in a manner that will contribute to the development of that much desired trust and credibility.

Yes, some believe that having positional power automatically entitles them to this precious attitude, but I feel that this is actually compliance and not really trust. And to have a truly highly-functioning team, it's essential to build trust, not just have compliance.

So what are some strategies that can help us build trust?

Open Communication

It all starts with open communication. Share information about the decisions and the associated actions. Be clear about your intentions, about the goals.

That doesn't mean being careless and justifying everything by saying it’s “speaking the truth”. We can't just come in and say whatever and start blaming and finger-pointing and throwing people under the bus because...

Talking about the leadership mindset and communication culture of a particular team, Alan Mulally, former CEO of Ford Motor Company, said “Like a lot of companies, you only brought an issue to your supervisor if you had a solution. So now, you’re just managing a secret. You don’t know what’s going on.”

This approach is not unique to that particular organization. I remember being given that same advice as an employee. Being told just that: don’t go to your supervisor with a problem if you don’t have a solution. And later, in a position of leadership, I was reprimanded by a colleague for having brought up an issue during a leadership meeting. I was told: “We don’t tell him these things. It makes us look back.”

What?!?

That blew my mind. It made absolutely no sense to me.

“Isn’t that why we have these meetings?”

Of course, now, years later, with much more experience, now as an executive, I can say with...

A while ago, I read a quote by American psychologist B.F. Skinner that really spoke to me. Both as an individual and as a leader. It said: “A failure is not always a mistake. It may simply be the best one can do under the circumstances. The real mistake is to stop trying.”

As leaders, we will face failure at some point. It’s not a question of “if”. It’s truly a question of “when”. And when that time does arrive, what lessons will you be teaching your team by your behavior?

The Need to Learn Lessons from Our Failures

The first thing that we need to consider is recognizing the actual need to learn lessons from our failures.

How are you role modeling that?

To start to learn from our failures, we have to own them. We have to accept our part in that failure.

There are some leaders who immediately look for someone else to blame. Although there may be times when those leaders truly had no part at all in this failure, we need to be careful of...