Category Archives: Leaders

Conversation Starters, Conversations That Matter, Leaders, Leadership, Organisational Values, Personal Values, Strategic Conversations

Three Steps For Bringing Organisational Values To Life

I recently published an article titled “Company Values Need to Be Talked About” and I was asked to provide a follow up to that article. So here it is!

Organisational values are too often left to gather dust on office walls. If you are a leader and your organisation has values, how regularly do you bring those values alive in conversations with your team members? The usual response is, “Not very often.” Yet when we ask leaders if they believe in their organisation’s values they reply with a resounding, “Yes!”.

So what is the problem? Why is it that so many leaders struggle to host conversations with their team members about their organisation’s values?

The answer often lies in two issues. Firstly leaders simply forget to take responsibility for keeping their organisational values alive by talking about them with their team members. Such behaviour is simply not on their radar.

Secondly, many leaders aren’t taught how to tell effective stories. It is assumed that leaders know how to tell stories. In part this is true. People DO know how to tell stories. However, telling effective stories is different. Telling effective stories requires some structure.

Thankfully most storytelling structures are quite simple. Here’s one that most of you will remember from your childhood. The structure was effective then, and it is still effective now.

Step 1 – Start the story.
This usually involves setting the scene and context of the story. For stories regarding the organisations values you would explain a situation and set the scene that you are going to explain how the organisation’s values can be used in real situations.

Step 2 – Explain the middle section of the story
This usually involves the details about what happened and who did what. It is where the rationale behind how the values were used would be explained.

Step 3 – Finish the story
This section provide the “So what!” part of the story. What was the result? In this case, what was the impact of using the organisation’s values to guide decision making and actions.

These three steps effectively catalyse Conversations That Matter®.

An example

Start
When I was on the executive team of a medium sized business some legislation was passed that affected $14million of our revenue. In 12 months time it would be gone. This revenue directly paid the salaries of over 200 people.

Middle
Having already performed some scenario planning on this outcome, the executive team met to confirm what would be done for the staff to ensure that the values of integrity, teamwork, service and community were upheld throughout a difficult period. A decision was made to use the organisation’s training and development budget to up skill the staff in resume writing, interview skills and outplacement programs to ensure that as many staff as possible could find new jobs.

End
All staff who wished to access the support were provided with the training and outplacement support that they required. While it was a difficult period for everyone involved staff consistently reported that while they wished that the situation had not occurred, they were delighted with the support that the organisation had provided them throughout their transition. The vast majority of staff found new jobs and opportunities that fitted with their career aspirations.

A significant benefit of storytelling is that it helps people to makes sense of situations. After you have told a story it is worth asking people if the story has triggered any similar examples that also might show the organisation’s values in use. When listening to their stories listen for the start, middle and end. Not everyone tells stories correctly so they might miss out some important parts of the story. If you are listening you can help them out. For example, if someone shares a story but leaves out the end, ask, “What happened? What difference did your actions make?”. You’ll be amazed at the difference asking such questions can make to the quality of your team members storytelling.

Using this technique can create highly engaged and flowing workplace conversations. Without even knowing it your team members will start to deepen their understanding of what your organisation’s values really mean in action. So, set aside 15 minutes once a month in your team meetings and see if you can bring your organisation’s values alive through storytelling. Follow the simple start, middle and end structure and you’ll be surprised just how effective it can be. Please leave a comment or let me know how you go using the three steps for organisational storytelling.

Gary Ryan enables individuals, teams and organisations to matter.
Visit Gary at http://garyryans.com
Career Success, Communication, Conversation Starters, Conversations That Matter, effective communication, High Performance, High Performing Teams, Leaders, Leadership

As A Manager, How Do You Show Respect For Your Team Members?

Recently a participant in a leadership development program for managers asked, “I’ve discovered that ‘respect’ is a core value of mine. What are some practical ways that I can ensure that this value is present in the way that I behave as a manager?”.

The following is the list of suggestions that emerged from the conversation that was conducted with this participant and another four people at their table. It is important to note that the following behaviours can be conducted irrespective of the culture that exists within the organisation.

  • Take the time to get to know each member of your team individually. This means that you would know the names of their partner, their children (if they have any). You would remember their hobbies and passions and genuinely inquire about how they are going with those pursuits. If you had a poor memory you would create a structure to ensure that you could remember these things. An example of such a structure is creating notes for each of the members in your team.
  • You would have a clear understanding of the career path that each of your team members is travelling and raise their awareness of any opportunities that would enhance their development in that direction.
  • You would let people do their jobs and trust them with appropriate authority for their roles. As much as possible you would stay out of their way but you would be explicit with them about why you would do that.
  • When bad information about your company was required to be shared with your team, you would share it. You would not ‘sugar coat’ the news.
  • You would provide performance feedback to your team members and make it as easy as possible for them to provide you with feedback. You would not ‘sugar coat’ feedback.
  • You would be proactive about ensuring that the remuneration of your team members was ‘fair’ in the context of your organisation and industry. This means that if you discovered that someone’s package was not ‘fair’, you would do whatever your system would allow you to do to rectify that situation.
  • You would recognise and reward your team members for their contributions.
  • You would be proactive with letting your team members know about opportunities that might take them out of your team if your view was that the opportunity aligned with their career aspirations as you understood them.

This list of examples is just a start. Once again it is important to note that these behaviours can be adopted irrespective of the overall culture within the organisation.

What are your examples of how, as a formal leader you have practiced the value of ‘respect’ in your role?

How have you catalysed Conversations That Matter® within your team?

Gary Ryan enables individuals, teams and organisations to matter.
Visit Gary at http://garyryans.com
Conversation Starters, Conversations That Matter, Leaders, Leadership, Organisational Values, Personal Values, shared values

Company values need to be talked about

Too often organisational values end up being meaningless from an operational perspective. In no way do they relate to the the day to day operation of the organisation.

This is because they are not explicitly used to help staff make decisions. If you are responsible for a team when was the last time you conducted a conversation with your team regarding how they have used the organisation’s values to help them make a decision?

It isn’t hard to do. Simply ask the question.

Go on, do it. I promise it won’t hurt.

The outcome of these conversations is that the values start to have a clearer meaning. Staff begin to understand what they really look and feel like in practice, which is where they really matter.

Meaningful organisational values will help staff to make effective decisions for the organisation. Who wouldn’t want that outcome.

How do you keep your organisation’s values alive?

Gary Ryan enables individuals, teams and organisations to matter.
Visit Gary at http://garyryans.com
Hastie Group, High Performance, High Performing Teams, Leaders, Leadership, Truth to Power

Lack of Truth To Power at the core of Hastie Group collapse

“It was a culture of ‘no bad news’ within this company that was at fault”. Hastie Group CEO Bill Wild is quoted as saying in The Age .

Truth to Power is reflected in the regularity with which people lower in an organisation’s hierarchy provide honest opinions and/or data to more senior people in the hierarchy. When it is low, danger looms. It can even cause the loss of at least 2,300 jobs which is the current scenario at the Hastie Group.

Just yesterday when I was working with a management team I asked them their view on whether or not it is easy for people to provide Truth to Power. “No” was their collective response.

“Is that a potential problem for you?” I asked.

A resounding “Yes” was the reply.

If you consider a multi layered organisation, imagine if Truth to Power is low at the ‘lower’ levels of the organisation. Imagine if it is also low at the middle levels of the organisation. Then imagine if it is low at the more senior levels of the organisation.

If you were the ‘head’ of such an organisation, how much truth would you be hearing? Very little!

And that is dangerous – it could even sit at the heart of an organisational collapse.

Candor lies at the core of Truth to Power. This means that at all levels of an organisation people are encouraged to say when they believe is going on, understanding that there perspective is only part of the picture. But an important part none the less.

Truth to Power is diminished when the ‘messenger is shot’. When ‘bad things’ happen to people who provide an honest opinion or highlight ‘scary’ data in an organisation, other people learn very quickly ‘not to put their head up’.

This means that managers and leaders have to learn how to handle hearing things they don’t like to hear, especially when the ‘truth’ might relate to an issue that the manager believed had been resolved some time ago. Managers also have to have the courage to speak with their colleagues when they see evidence that they are damaging Truth to Power through their lack of engagement with their direct reports. Saying, “Bob’s always been like that, he never listens to his people” is not satisfactory. In fact it highlights managers accepting the unacceptable behaviour of their colleagues and the simple truth is that such behaviour can place everyones jobs at risk, including the managers themselves.

Truth to Power does not mean it is ‘open slather’ for employees to say what they like just for the sake of saying it. Part of truth to power includes the messenger taking responsibility for what they are saying, so their view is genuine and not an effort to ‘have a go’ because they can.

How healthy is Truth to Power in your organisation?

Gary Ryan works with Senior and Developing Leaders to enhance their capacity to achieve high performance through fully utilising the talents of their team members.

Read this article here inside the OTM Academy.

Gary Ryan enables individuals, teams and organisations to matter.
Visit Gary at http://garyryans.com
Communication, Conversation Starter, Conversations That Matter, Leaders, Leadership, teams, Teams That Matter

Communicate effectively through multiple channels

The use of email is still a main driver for miscommunication within the workplace. People simply rely too much on it for their communication, or rather they rely too much on it as the main channel for workplace communication.

Given that up to 90% of the written word is interpreted by the recipient of the message, email is a risky channel of communication especially when the author of the message suspects that it has a high chance of being interpreted negatively.

Yet people continue to press ‘send’. And again and again and again. And they wonder why their workplace relationships suffer. And they wonder why performance suffers when negative energy is wasted on unnecessary miscommunication.

Communicating any message by a single channel is risky business. And even riskier when the message has a high probability of being misinterpreted.

Unless you are deliberately intending for someone to read a negative message from your email, then it is best to use multiple communication channels to send your message.

A communication channel is a means through which a message is sent. It could be verbal, a text message, an email, a video, a presentation, an audio recording, a website, a blog – the list of possible channels is virtually limitless.

When you have a potentially difficult issue to convey speak to the person or people to whom you wish to convey your message first. This can be in person or at least over the phone. It is after you have conveyed your message via a verbal format that you should then follow up with an email, simply highlighting the key aspects of your verbal conversation.

This simple technique of using multiple channels to convey your message will significantly decrease the chances that the recipient of your message will misinterpret your intentions. Business relationships won’t suffer and performance won’t be reduced. A little care and forethought goes a long way.

What is your experience of using multiple channels to more effectively communicate your messages in the workplace?

Gary Ryan enables individuals, teams and organisations to matter.
Visit Gary at http://garyryans.com
ebook, effective communication, High Performance, High Performing Teams, Leaders, Leadership Development, Professional Development, What Really Matters

Insights for Senior & Developing Leaders ebook released

What Really Matters! Volume 4, Number 1, 2012 complimentary edition released.

What Really Matters! Volume 4, Number 1, 2012

This complimentary ebook is for Senior & Developing Leaders who share our view that organisational success is created through enabling people to be the best they can be, was created from a selection of articles published on the OTM Academy from January 1st 2012 through to April 30th 2012.
Please feel free to join the OTM Academy – it’s free!

In the ebook you will discover:

* Why you should know what is on your corporate website

* How to conduct ‘Meetings That Matter’

* How clutter detracts from your service levels

* A great opportunity that results from Changing What’s Normal

* How to use illustrations to create Conversations That Matter®

*Why you should use the What Makes People Tick personality profile tool
* Why thinking like a chicken is not useful if you are an eagle
* How four extraordinary women have inspired many other people to contribute to a higher purpose

*And much, much more!
Order this free ebook to download here.
Contributing authors include:

  • Gary Ryan
  • Ian Berry

    Gary Ryan enables individuals, teams and organisations to matter.
    Visit Gary at http://garyryans.com
    Communication, Conversation Starter, Customer Service, High Performance, High Performing Teams, Leaders, OTM Service Strategy, Service Excellence

    Conversation Starters Catalyse Conversations That Matter®

    Conversation Starters are generally single page documents that are designed to catalyse Conversations That Matter.

    Through using a combination of text and illustrations, Conversation Starters provide focus for conversations that otherwise might not be able to occur.

    Through enabling people to focus on something other than another person, Conversation Starters allow people to talk about things that matter to them without fear of offending anyone – after all it is the document that can be blamed rather than a person.

    Access a complimentary Conversation Starter ‘Who is the Customer’ here and please let me know how you have used it.

    Gary Ryan enables individuals, teams and organisations to matter.
    Visit Gary at http://garyryans.com
    Leaders, Leadership Development, Personal Development, Self Help, Time management

    How to master the four quadrants of time management

    It always causes me to have a small laugh to myself when I conduct time management programs and people turn up late! It really doesn’t bother me if people are on time or not – they are the ones who will miss out if they are not there. For a lot of people it does highlight an important issue – their lack of capability to manage their time. Many people leave little room for error with regard to their time management – everything is ‘cut so fine’ that if one thing goes wrong, then they are unlikely to be ‘on time’.

    Many people have often suggested that they need to ‘make time’. I know what they mean, but can anyone really ‘make time’? The challenge is to use your time wisely so that you don’t ‘waste time’. Stephen Covey’s Urgent and Important Matrix is a useful tool for determining the wise use of time. The matrix works as follows:

    URGENT and IMPORTANT Tasks (Quadrant 1)
    These are the tasks that require immediate attention. A presentation, a meeting, a speech, a performance (as in a musical, theatrical or sport performance) the majority of the work that you do in your job, answering exam questions, a critical issue or crises. Time matters in the performance of these tasks. In short, if you don’t take effective action ‘right now’ you fail.

    NOT URGENT and IMPORTANT Tasks (Quadrant 2)
    These are things like planning, preparing, reading, clarifying your values and other personal development activities, capturing and preparing your stories for interviews, retreats, health and fitness activities, developing relationships etc. All these things could be completed at another time. In this sense, time is ‘not urgent’. As such, many of the tasks in this quadrant are simply left alone and they aren’t attempted. What people don’t understand is that there is a direct relationship between the quality of the tasks performed in Quadrant 1, and the quality time that you have spent in Quadrant 2. In short, time spent in Quadrant 2 improves your performance in Quadrant 1. It is therefore worth prioritising your time so that some of it, at least, is spent in Quadrant 2. Think about your performance when you have prepared for a presentation as compared to when you have ‘winged it’. I have heard some people boast about how well they can ‘wing it’ and make presentations without preparing. While it may have the appearance of working these people are in for a big let down – one day. The reality is they don’t ‘know their stuff’ and because of a ‘gift’ may be able to bamboozle people with their presentations skills. That can be a lot of extra pressure to carry around with you after a while. The majority of us, however, know that if we don’t prepare our performance suffers, so we prioritise our time beforehand to ensure that we are prepared.

    Another example of Quadrant 2 activities is attending personal development workshops, particularly when you are a volunteer. Ideally the lessons that you learn, when applied, will help your performance in Quadrant 1.

    So where does the time come from to enable you to spend more time in Quadrant 2 activities? The following quadrants provide that answer.

    URGENT and NOT IMPORTANT Tasks (Quadrant 3)
    These are things like many emails, some meetings (when you really don’t need to be there), text messages, the behaviour of some people when they demand your time ‘right now’ (you know the person, they ask if they can have five minutes of your time and they always seems to be talking 30 minutes later). Tasks in this quadrant have the appearance of being urgent, which is why they draw your attention. The problem is that you really could deal with them later (or not at all). By focussing on them ‘right now’ all you are doing is taking your attention away from Quadrant 1 or Quadrant 2 tasks. It is Quadrant 3 tasks where effective prioritising can ‘free up’ a lot of time; time that can be better used in Quadrant 1 or Quadrant 2.

    NOT URGENT and NOT IMPORTANT
    These are wasteful activities that often relate to addictive type behaviours or are behaviours that are undertaken to deliberately avoid the Quadrant 1 or 2 tasks. Time spent in Quadrant 4 has a DIRECT impact on your performance in Quadrant 1. You have a presentation tomorrow that you have not prepared, yet you spend the whole of the previous night watching the Premier League football on the television. You eventually arrive for your presentation underprepared and very tired. It is no surprise that you performance is poor. Ideally Quadrant 4 activities need to be completely eliminated from your life – all they do is detract from where you performance really matters, and that is your performance in Quadrant 1.

    This is just one example of many approaches to time management. What are yours? What systems work for you? What questions do you have about time management? What templates do you use that could be useful for other members of our network?

    Gary Ryan enables individuals, teams and organisations to matter.
    Visit Gary at http://garyryans.com
    Doctor Martin Luther King, Leaders, Leadership, Organisational Values, Personal Values

    Life Lessons From Doctor Martin Luther King

    The video of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “I have a Dream” speech marked a turning point for the civil rights movement in the USA. It is very difficult for many of us to comprehend the debilitating effects of racism on the scale that it was being practised in many places throughout the USA up until and including the 1960s. It is also very difficult for many of us to comprehend the risks that Martin Luther King Jr was taking in speaking up and speaking out about the inequality that existed at the time. Unfortunately he paid the ultimate sacrifice for his courage – he was assassinated at his hotel in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4th 1968 (if you ever have the opportunity to visit Memphis, please take the time to visit the Civil Rights Museum which was created at the site of the hotel where Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated – it is quite a moving experience) but his efforts did not go unrewarded.

    While the USA still has a long way to go for “equality to truly reign free”, the fact that the country has matured enough that a man of African parentage could become the President is a wonderful sign, something that I am confident Martin Luther King Jr would have celebrated if he were alive today.

    The reality for many of us is that we are unlikely to have to lead or face such life threatening changes. We may, however, have to “stand up to be counted” sometimes with the spectre of personal risk hanging over our actions. One of Martin Luther King Jr’s many quotes was, “History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamour of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.” Sometimes when we least expect it we may find ourselves thrust into a situation where if we are silent we will protect ourselves and our own patch, while if we were to speak up we may place our ‘safety’ at some risk.

    As an example back in 2004 a young graduate employee of one of Australia’s large financial institutions was going about his work. Suddenly he discovered some activities that at first appeared unethical, and then after a little more research appeared downright illegal. He didn’t go to work that day looking to discover these breaches within the bank, he was just going about the usual aspects of his job. When he recalled the story to me he said,

    “At first I was the only person who knew what I had found. A thought went through my mind that maybe I could just pretend that I hadn’t uncovered the illegal behaviour. This was huge and even though I didn’t have any legal training I was pretty sure that some people would be going to jail if I opened my mouth. I also suspected that my actions would lead to significant scrutiny of myself. For a brief period I seriously thought about letting it go. I thought that someone else would eventually find the same things that I had discovered and they could be the one to blow the whistle. Even though the person next to me in our open office was not working in the same area as myself, I broadly shared the story without giving away any specific details, just to see what he said. At first he didn’t say anything, and as it was the end of the day, he turned off his computer, picked up his bag, grabbed his jacket and walked toward the door. Just before exiting he stopped, turned and said, ‘Go home and look into the mirror, then you’ll know what to do’. As soon as he had finished saying those words I knew that I had to speak up. I had to be true to myself and do the right thing for the organisation.”

    This young man eventually spent three days in the witness stand as several of the institutions employees had been charged with various (and serious) offences. The defence lawyers tried to discredit him over those three days and made a number of slanderous comments about him (all of which they withdrew – but nonetheless they were all said publicly). Each of the accused were found guilty and went to prison and the institution used the event as a catalyst to overhaul its culture. As a footnote to this story, the institution concerned has probably performed the best out of all of Australia’s financial institutions throughout the global economic downturn and I suspect that their change in culture since 2004 has significantly contributed to their stability over recent times. I don’t think that the young man who blew the whistle knew that there would eventually be such a positive ripple effect from his actions. Often this is the case when true courage is shown. The event and experience is initially very hard and painful, while the long term outcome is usually very positive and powerful.

    This story highlights that each of us, one day, may have to ‘stand up to be counted’. Maybe a fellow employee has been falsely accused of an error when it was our doing; maybe a senior manager is behaving badly within the workplace and their behaviour is not being addressed. You never know, it could be a whole range of issues. The challenge is, what do you think that you would do? Would you be more like the many who remain silent, or would you stand up to be counted? Have any of you ‘stood up’ before and if so, what happened?

    Gary Ryan enables individuals, teams and organisations to matter.
    Visit Gary at http://garyryans.com
    Leaders, Leadership, Organisational Values, Personal Values, Values

    Understanding the relationship between leadership and values

    Many great questions have been asked in the various leadership development programs that I have been facilitating recently. One of those questions was, “Why have personal or organisational values?” On a personal level, living a life that is consistent with our personal values is one of the ways to live a happier life compared with someone who does not live such a consistent life. This is irrespective of material wealth.

    Life has a habit of creating difficult situations through which we must navigate and the path that we choose to take can be guided by our values. If, however, you don’t know what your personal values are, then it is very difficult to choose a path that is aligned with them. Some might suggest that it is easier to not have values. I’m yet to experience a value-less person. By this I mean that everyone has values; their behaviours indicate what they are. The issue is whether or not the person knows what values they are portraying. It is easy to preach a certain range of values; the challenge can be living them.

    Ultimately a simple metaphor can help with this idea of values. Irrespective of your role in life, at the end of each day when you are home and look at yourself in the mirror, are you proud of the person staring back at you? In 1934 the editor of the New York Post (a monthly magazine at the time) was sent a letter by an 18 year old male. His letter contained a single question, “Why be honest?”. The editor thought that it was such a great question that he published it the next month and asked the readers to send in their replies. He promised to publish the best response.

    The following poem was adjudged the best response. While written in 1934 I think the essence of the poem has significant value to this day. Many of you may not have heard of the word ‘pelf’. It means, “money or wealth, esp. when regarded with contempt or acquired by reprehensible means.” In other words it is when you acquire wealth no matter the cost to others.

    Dale Winbrow, the poem’s author, was not a poet. He simply penned this poem in response to the 18 years old’s question. If you would like to learn more about Dale Wimbrow visit http://www.theguyintheglass.com/gig.htm. This is my favourite poem and has been since I was introduced to it in 1996.

    The Guy in the Glass

    When you get what you want in your struggle for pelf,

    And the world makes you King for a day,

    Then go to the mirror and look at yourself,

    And see what that guy has to say.



    For it isn’t your Father, or Mother, or Wife,

    Who judgement upon you must pass.

    The feller whose verdict counts most in your life

    Is the guy staring back from the glass.



    He’s the feller to please, never mind all the rest,

    For he’s with you clear up to the end,

    And you’ve passed your most dangerous, difficult test

    If the guy in the glass is your friend.



    You may be like Jack Horner and “chisel” a plum,

    And think you’re a wonderful guy,

    But the man in the glass says you’re only a bum

    If you can’t look him straight in the eye.



    You can fool the whole world down the pathway of years,

    And get pats on the back as you pass,

    But your final reward will be heartaches and tears

    If you’ve cheated the guy in the glass.


    Ultimately living a life in which we behave in a way that is consistent with our values across all our various life roles provides us the best chance to be happy when we look at the person staring back at us in the mirror. It is possible to be lauded as a great person but not be happy. This can be because, at the end of the day when we are alone and looking at ourselves in the mirror we may be aware that we have not been true to our values or ourselves in the way that we have behaved during the day.

    So what does this have to do with leadership. Michelle Hunt (Dream Makers) suggests that formal leadership roles carry a great weight of responsibility because they involve a serious meddling in other people’s lives. When we hold positions of leadership within any organisation whether it be for profit, not for profit or government based, our decisions can have a direct impact on many people’s lives. Performing our roles in the context of our personal values becomes critical for both personal happiness and organisational performance. If we are working full time, we spend too much time at work to behave in a way that is not consistent with our values to think that there would not be a negative effect on the rest of our lives. (You can find out more about Michelle Hunt by visiting http://www.dreammakers.org/)

    A business reality, particularly in difficult economic times may involve reducing staff numbers. A question worth asking before taking such action is, “Have we truly exhausted all other options?”.

    Another consideration is, “Did we have the foresight to prepare for more difficult times when times were good?”.

    If we still have to make staff redundant, our values, and in this case our organisational values can guide the way we go about performing this process. As our values are an element of our vision, should we decide to ignore our values in the way we would perform such a task we guarantee, in my view, in ensuring that our vision will NOT be achieved. Is that a price that we are willing to pay for the sake (usually) of saving a few dollars and maintaining our dignity (and the dignity of those being made redundant) when such a decision is made?
    While your experience may be such that not many organisations are true to their values, I suggest that this is NOT an excuse for you to do the same. You are not monkeys, so you do not have to do, “Monkey see, monkey do”.

    Taking action in alignment with organisational vales can take courage. A few years ago The Herald Sun Sunday Newspaper in Melbourne published front page headlines and alleged photographs of prospective Queensland parliamentarian Pauline Hanson one week before the Queensland State election. The photographs were of a sexual nature and were reported to have been from an earlier time in Pauline’s life. The authenticity of the photographs was immediately questioned.

    A week later after public outrage about the photographs and evidence that clearly indicated that the photographs were not Pauline Hanson the Newspaper published a public apology (interestingly buried on page 68!). While a noble act, the behaviour of the paper cannot be undone.

    To me the values of the paper’s editors were obvious. Sell papers at any cost. I wonder whether that was the true value set of the editor? This is one of the reason’s that organisational values are so critical. Without them organisations are at risk of behaving in ways that can taint the brand of the organisation and reduce trust in the organisation by its customers.

    If your organisation has a set of values and you have a leadership role within that organisation, then it is your duty to be able to explain how you have used the values in your decision making processes. It is through sharing real stories and examples that staff within the organisation develop their understanding of the values in action. In this way the values help create the results that you desire. So, if your organisation is about making money (which, by the way, has nothing inherently wrong with it) it can do so while also having a clear set of organisational values.

    In the case of the newspaper, imagine if it held the value of integrity. If such a value were alive and well in the way that decisions were made at the paper, then the photographs and the article would have never been published in the first place. The paper would have had systems in place (systems that had been created to support their values) to ensure that the appropriate checks on the story had taken place before it was published.

    You may be in a situation where your organisation has values but you can’t see how they are lived. You may even hold the view that ‘those at the top‘ are hypocrites. Maybe they are. Your challenge is this. If you actually believe in your organisation’s values, is your behaviour aligned to them? Are you able to explain your decisions in the context of your organisation’s values? Too many people say something like, “Well the leaders don’t live by the values, so why should I?” 

    Why would anyone base their own poor behaviour on someone-else’s poor behaviour?.

    There is no doubt that living your values can be challenging. Doing so within an organisational context can be even more challenging. However it can be done.

    The only person who will know how you are performing in the context of living your values is you. So, when you look in the mirror at the end of each day, what does that person have to say back to you?

    Gary Ryan enables individuals, teams and organisations to matter.
    Visit Gary at http://garyryans.com