Explaining to do

A co-worker of mine was working on a Master's degree, and as part of a project on leadership, she asked me to answer some questions about how my values are reflected in my leadership.

I dutifully responded and then saved the document...which remained hidden away for almost over a year...UNTIL NOW!

Here are my responses. Try answering the questions for yourself. Formulating the answers was a good exercise, and as a famous blogger once said (paraphrase) - writing things down makes me more articulate; writing them in a public forum makes me more honest.

What are your three primary values as a leader?

• Transparency – no one has all the information or all the answers. Hoarding information breeds inflexible systems. Sharing ideas and being open to honest, useful criticism improves the organization and the relationships among the people who make it up.

• Outcomes – the group is working toward a goal. We want things to be a certain way, and we are working to deliver those outcomes. All else (ego, credit, ego, blame, ego) is a distraction. Don’t take anything personally.

• Individual respect – organizations exist to serve people. People work in them. If there is not a culture of respect for every individual that makes up an organization (employees, clients, etc.) the possibility of delivering a valuable outcome is diminished or destroyed.

Describe a way in which you have personally lived a value.

• I’ve developed a silly catch-phrase that sounds strange and meaningless to a lot of people who don’t think I mean it when I say it: “You’re great.” Sometimes I don’t mean it at the moment I say it, but I never utter it facetiously.  I picked it up from my father-in-law. It is a constant meditation on respect and humility. If I say enough and you hear it enough, we might both come to believe it a little (or a lot) and do better things for ourselves and others. It acknowledges the potential of every person you meet; it acknowledges the daily struggles we have in simply being human; it acknowledges that each person’s value is intrinsic, rather than utilitarian.

Quick Hitters

• What do I stand for? Arete. Always room for improvement.

• What brings me suffering? Intolerance. Closed-mindedness. Resistance to change.

• What makes me jump for joy? Hyper-efficient systems that deliver high-quality outcomes.

• What keeps me awake at night? Red ink.

• What’s grabbed ahold and not let go? There’s always a better solution than the status quo (even if you just thought of it).

• What do I really care about? People – even if I don’t like them.

Tell a signature story that communicates an important value.

• As the manager of a professional theatre company, I was responsible for the finances. I worked with the production departments to put together the productions to deliver high-quality theatre in a timely manner within the limits of the budget. After struggling for several seasons to keep the production departments within their budgets, I began to schedule weekly budget meetings with all the production heads in a room together. Aside from providing each of us with timely, accurate information, it was also a forum for each of us to share concerns or thoughts. The meetings brought our values and outcomes into closer alignment: I understood the specific challenge of the moment that they had to solve with limited resources; they understood that in order for me to be successful, I needed them to provide me with accurate and timely information and to be mindful of budgets and receipts. There was no question that we were all working on the same project with the same aspiration of quality. The transparency and the affirmation of the common outcome allowed us to work harder to support each other – I got a closer view of the fine detail of their project, and they got a sense of the big picture that I was involved in. It solved the problem.

Describe a critical moment of leadership that challenged your values.

• I believe that openness, trust, and productive criticism are keys to improvement and success. As an executive manager, I’m still responsible to yet a higher authority (a board, a president, etc.) for mission success and fiscal health. I was once involved in a situation where sharing critical financial information was necessary for the success of the company, but the other key organization leader lacked technical savvy and placed a higher value on short-term mission success and programming imperatives than fiscal health. In order to effectively share the information, discuss it, and plan, I had to create conditions under which the information would be shared, which seems very disrespectful because gatekeeping indicated a lack of trust. There was no way around it, because the alternatives jeopardized the integrity of the information, which would then jeopardize the success and health of the company. It was not within my authority or ability to modify the behavior or skill set of the other executive, but as a counterbalance to the awkward situation, I tried to keep respect for my counter-part's individual humanity at the front of my mind. It was difficult, and I was not always successful, but the health of the company was vouchsafed. Choosing among competing core values induces a unique kind of anxiety – one enters into constant negotiation with one’s own value structure. In that case, placing a higher value on the positive outcome for the company won out. My hope was that more good would be done for more people over time than harm was done by placing the long-term fiscal integrity of the company above the implicit need to trust my co-exec. I had to base my judgment on the outcomes - weighing the outcome of placing one value above the other and vice versa. In the end, I chose the one that I was most comfortable with. I don't know if I could ever say for certain that it was the "best."

What behaviors and activities help you communicate your values?

• Here’s an old saw (and a mixed metaphor): you can pull a rope, but you can’t push it. I try to lead by example. My actions are always an attempt to live the values I espouse. There are a couple of other things that I find helpful: define and communicate the values of the organization clearly and frequently; create systems that support your values and account for any tendencies toward noncompliance. People are people and they tend to do what they will. Not everyone is going to agree with my values or with the values of the company. It is unrealistic in many situations to think you can just replace the people – especially since each of us will always interpret values differently no matter how well-defined. As a leader, I try to be sensitive to those areas, and create systems with an efficient natural flow that promote (or at least don’t diminish) the values of the organization. When people activate those systems, the values naturally arise and are affirmed. The best systems will support the values, deliver the outcome, and readily present themselves as the most attractive choice to anyone asked to use them.