Walking the talk can be a challenge

Being a role model is an inherent part of being in a managerial or leadership position – your team looks up to you and expects you to lead the way in behavior and values. This topic often comes up in management & leadership workshops. From time to time I see delegates back away from being a role model but mostly it is accepted as “blindingly obvious”.

However when you dig beneath the surface, being a role model can be a serious challenge – as can be seen in recent newspaper headlines when organisations say one thing about their values but behave differently when problems occur.

Here are some challenges that I often encounter in organisations:-

• The need to be constantly self-aware of actions and their impact on others.
• When actions & behavior fall below an organisation’s (or personal) values they are addressed promptly and in a public way with those impacted.
• Organisational values and cultures change over time and behavior needs to change accordingly.
• When I see others failing to be a role model, I call it out.
• Situations that potentially damage our reputation or commercial interests when we put our self-interest above our values.
• Accepting that we are all human and make mistakes. It is how we deal with those mistakes that really demonstrate our values.

Walking the talk is easy to say but to do so requires courage and determination.

If you are interested in learning more about how we can help your organisation develop a values based culture, then get in touch with us today.