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Intrapersonal Growth: |
The Bedrock of Group Achievement part 1 of 2 |
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"Shared values are the bedrock on which leaders build the edifice of group achievement. No examination of leadership would be complete without attention to the decay and possible regeneration of the value framework."
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This article was authored by John Hawkins, Founder and President of Leadership Edge Incorporated. Mr. Hawkins helps university students and organizational leaders across America wrestle with the issue of developing a leadership lifestyle. He believes that this is essential for effective, long-term leadership of today’s chaotic organizations and corporations. Mr. Hawkins is an author, consultant, speaker, husband, and father. How do team members move from their individual diversity to unified effort? How do management and employees move from their all too often positions of common disloyalty and move toward commitments for positive ongoing collaboration? Corporate and organizational leaders on a regular basis should ponder questions such as these. As they ponder, they should seek solutions that fit with the humanity of those that they lead. What are those things that bring humankind together so that together they can move forward? As John Gardner says, "shared values are the bedrock on which leaders build the edifice of group achievement." The concept of shared values appears to many people to be more like quick sand than bedrock. The words "shared" and "values" seem too "feely-touchy" to managers who are only looking for strategic processes to yield higher employee productivity. To these managers, the concept of shared values leaves them with a sinking feeling. A truth of humanity is that we all live by those things that we see as most important. More specifically, we each live based upon what we really believe and really desire. Your values are the answer to the question, "Considering what I believe and desire, what is most important?" The relationships, experiences, possessions and accomplishments that you pursue throughout life are indications of your values. They define what it is you truly believe and truly desire. Each team member comes to work everyday largely because of his or her values. They may believe that work is a necessary evil that pays the bills. They may desire the status that they believe will come with climbing the corporate ladder. These and other beliefs and desires make coming to work important for them. As they show up at their jobs, each employee works in a way that also reflects their personal values. And this can be a real problem. Personal values, no matter how honorable, are self-centered. They are my values. The values reflect what I believe and what I desire. My personal values represent my perspective on what is most important. In this regard, team members can be repelled rather than unified by each other’s values. This has been demonstrated endlessly in television’s sitcoms where people with polarizing values are forced to daily contend with one another. The power of polarizing personal values is demonstrated more subtly when a couple is married and begins to make their first financial and career decisions together. The possibility of personal values fueling divisiveness within a team gives some leaders ample motivation to avoid discussions of values at any cost. But avoidance of values directs the leader and his team away from establishing the bedrock of shared values. It is through leading her team to add to their set of personal values a set of shared team values that the leader moves the team beyond their diversity and toward a unified, cooperative effort. It is through a commitment to shared values that the leader gains not only the hands of his team members but also their hearts and minds. Authors Ken Blanchard and Michael O’Connor write in their book "Managing By Values" about the role of shared values in business contexts.(1) They believe that as organizations adopt shared values and align their actions with those values they position themselves to more effectively serve the interests of their organization’s CEOS (customers, employees, owners and stakeholders). A set of shared values such as integrity, excellence and profitability guide employees in performing their work in a way that reflects those things that are most important to their CEOS. ------------------------------------- (1)Ken Blanchard and Michael O'Connor, Managing By Values, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 1997. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ page 1 2 © Copyright – John Hawkins – April 2000 - Used with permission |
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