Growing up in the Midwest, I’ve always loved winter. I love seeing snow on tree branches, the cool tingle of snow as it touches my cheeks. My vacation dreams often involve being inside a cozy cabin, the fireplace roaring. I imagine wrapping myself in a fuzzy blanket with a steaming drink watching the snow fall.
As I write, the snow is falling lightly outside my window. I’ve got a screensaver on the iMac next to me with a fireplace that crackles every so often. It’s a delightful background as I reflect on what leaders are thinking about this month.
Values are more than fluffy platitudes
Values have a pretty bad reputation. The narrative around company values is that they’re often fluffy platitudes. We see them like those 90s motivational posters. We envision a line of penguins walking on a beach, the words “walk the talk” in bold font. We laugh at their earnestness, their obvious play for emotions. We think about a company we worked where values didn’t seem to play a big role in everyday decisions. We might write off values as useless.
I get it. We can all probably recall a time when a company didn’t seem to be living its values. Many of us are jaded about this stalwart of organizational life. Still, writing off values removes an important lever for organizational success. Values are guiding principles that help us know how to act. When done right, they become a north star guiding the team in the desired direction.
It might surprise you how much leaders think about company values, aligning their actions with them. Both leaders in this month’s interviews emphasized how company values guided them through big organizational shifts. Clear values guided Rob Smith, Head of Content, and the LeadDev team on how to shift the product when the pandemic shut down their main product line. Maria Campbell, VP People at Griffin shared how values serve as an operating system for the team as it moves towards a public launch. Of values Maria says,
“They’re prescriptive and descriptive of how you work and what's acceptable and what's not. There's nothing very fluffy about that.”
Besides setting boundaries, values are an important part of creating a well-functioning culture. Transmitting these values begins during the hiring process. Well articulated values signal to candidates what the environment is like. When there's alignment between a candidate and a company’s values, the match can be powerful. Lynn Tye, creator of {key : values} is doing important work helping to reveal the values of companies to make finding a match easier. I highly recommend her work.
Accountability
“How do I hold people accountable? I’m not good at this.”
Lately, leaders have been talking about accountability. On its face, it sounds like a tactical conversation. It’s actually a mindset conversation. As humans, we make up stories about how the world works. These stories reflect our mindset.
I hear a familiar belief around accountability. It goes something like this: “Accountability means being an asshole. I hate being an asshole.” This is a mindset, it’s not fact. When you have a mindset running it feels like the truth though rather than a perspective. We’ve experienced other leaders coming down hard. Even though we might prefer a friendly diplomacy method, we bring that baggage with us. We think we need to be like other leaders. We must be tough, strong, hold people accountable for their actions.
When we’re stuck in a mindset there’s often a binary at work. That’s at play here too. Either I’m a “nice person” and let goals, deadlines, and promises slide or I have to be a heavy. When stuck in binary thinking, it doesn’t feel like a perspective, it feels like the way things are. Binaries — black and white answers — might be good in code. When it comes to people, binaries are unhelpful at best and harmful at worst. Revealing the binary at work allows leaders to see that it’s just a perspective, this, in turn, allows them to find other access points on the nice person to asshole continuum. Shifting their perspective changes their approach to the work, how they communicate…pretty much everything.
When I hear leaders talk about accountability what I hear is: How do I guide the team to reach goals without stressful conflict? How can I lead us to reach our objectives while maintaining strong relationships? How do I encourage people to take ownership of their work?
One last thought. When we come from a place of accountability there’s an assumption that a missed goal or lack of progress is a personal failure. This is a narrow lens. Sometimes progress stalls because of organizational friction. Coming down hard on someone isn’t the answer — identifying and removing obstacles is far more useful. The next time someone is stuck check to see if you, a structure, or organizational dysfunction are the cause. That conversation about accountability will shift immediately.
There are layers on top of layers on the accountability topic. This barely scratches the surface. Think of it as an appetizer size portion on the subject. We’ll return to it in the future.
Real stories and lived experiences
On the internet, there’s no shortage of philosophical content about leadership. I used to read this stuff but after being in a leadership role I found it less helpful. I stopped reading it. Like many things, leadership is far harder in practice than in theory. I wanted to hear how people actually navigate the role — how they find their way through obstacles.
I’m not alone. When on a panel or giving a talk I’m often asked to infuse it with real-world stories. We want to know how others have handled the tricky trade-offs that accompany these roles. We want a glimpse into the decision-making process. That’s why I created a leadership interview series. I’m highlighting the stories of how leaders navigate organizational change or a personal challenge. It’s less leadership theory, more leadership practice.
Want to be interviewed? Hit reply or you can find more information here.
Until next time,
Suzan
If this piece resonated with you, please let me know and give the heart button below a tap.