How often have you heard a leader in your organization preach a set of values and yet don’t consistently demonstrate them? For these people it is easier to give other people advice than to listen to their own words and practice them unconditionally.
They talk about creating a risk-taking culture but punish those that make mistakes.
They talk about being customer focused but they have no calendar time dedicated to meeting with customers.
They talk about people as the most important asset of the organization but they have a closed-door policy and it is impossible for employees to get face time with them.
This type of behaviour does not go unnoticed by the tribes in the organization. Employees see the inconsistency between words and action and they are left with the conclusion that it is all a facade and the leader doesn’t really mean what they say.
As a result the organization falters. Little progress is made towards a healthier future. Employee satisfaction plummets. Competitors plunder.
The business eventually fails.
These are the things great leaders do to ‘eat their own dog food’:
They:
- passionately communicate the business plan of the organization in minute detail to define the precise behaviours necessary to successfully execute it.
- focus on the critical few things that must be done to make the strategy come alive and they model the appropriate behaviour.
- are nosy leaders. They spend copious amounts of time with employees identifying roadblocks to progress and clarifying the behaviour expected to deliver the strategic imperatives of the organization.
- believe in ‘do-it-yourself’ and never ask others to do anything they are not prepared to do themselves.
- actively participate in the 360 feedback process for their own performance improvement, involving employees throughout the organization for feedback on their leadership.
- Align every aspect of their position responsibilities to strategic goals and behave accordingly.
- openly communicate their pain when difficult circumstances impact the organization. Employees need to see that leaders suffer disappointment like everyone else.
- assign high potential managers to do their job for brief periods to get another perspective on how they could perform their role more effectively.
- engage frontline people in improving the execution of their business plan. They initiate frontline panels as vehicles to get feedback on execution effectiveness and to provide direction for improving.
- make a point of showing employees how they have matched words with action. They intentionally don’t delegate certain tasks in order to make the behaviour they want explicit for people.
The leader’s fingerprints are all over the activities that really matter.
The ‘do as I say and not what I do’ thing doesn’t work. It’s an insult to people’s intelligence.
So, if you think you’re a great leader you’d better be eating your own dog food.
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