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transparency

Establish Values for an Organization
 1024 536 Brad Englert Advisory

If the organization does not have a clear set of values, collaborate with your team leaders to create one.

 

Here is an example of a department’s set of values created by my direct reports and me:

  • Put family first.
  • Deliver high-quality services.
  • Foster customer partnerships.
  • Establish understanding, trust, and accountability.
  • Make data-driven, innovative, customer-focused decisions.
  • Facilitate collaboration, cooperation, and communication.

These values were prominently displayed on the organization’s website and reinforced to all staff via quarterly meetings and weekly blog posts. Orientation sessions for all new employees were scheduled every month so they could learn about these organizational values, ask questions, and meet the management team leaders.

The benefits of these changes were to build a disciplined, service-oriented culture where there was none; to establish understanding and accountability for services delivered; to increase efficiencies in the organization to fund capital and operating needs; to demonstrate the ability to collaborate, communicate, and follow through on service commitments; and to establish trust with customers leading to increased adoption of cost-effective services. We encouraged staff at all levels to build strong working relationships with their customer counterparts.

Actively listen to your staff and customers, and then set the expectations for the future of the organization. Reinforce these values in frequent communications, the organization’s website, weekly blog updates, quarterly all-staff meetings, job postings, and orientations. It’s crucial if you want to create a culture of customer service and discipline. Do not depend on vital communications to be passed down through the ranks; it just doesn’t happen.

Building Authentic Business Relationships
 1024 536 Brad Englert Advisory

In one organization, I had seven team leaders reporting to me. Each of us had from five to 10 peers and customers in the enterprise who we reached out to in the liaison program. This liaison feedback was discussed in our weekly management meetings. We established and nurtured a strong network of business relationships, which served as our organization’s nervous system. We purposely met with people critical of our organization to better understand their concerns. We wanted them inside the tent solving issues with us, not outside throwing rocks. We gathered good and bad feedback, garnered input on team leader performance, and defused rumors that we could address. We also built up goodwill by getting out of our offices and letting people know that we gave a damn.

 

Just as I did for my one-on-one meetings with my manager, I would solicit topics for my liaison meetings with high-level executives. Often I would invite my team leads to my liaison meetings to give them greater executive-level visibility and to help them hear firsthand about those executive leaders’ needs, concerns, and priorities. This inclusive approach helped to improve communication countless times and fostered executive-level trust and confidence in my management team’s ability to deliver outstanding service.

 

Rumors can also be quickly addressed. One of my team leaders was falsely accused of not supporting a new program, and misinformation was quickly spreading about her views. I reached out to my peer liaison executive responsible for this program and said, “Sara has been working tirelessly to make sure your program is successful for both of our organizations. She and I are disappointed about the rumors.” My peer executive agreed and put a stop to the rumors.

 

You and your team leaders must establish and nurture authentic business relationships with peers and customers throughout the enterprise. The liaison program establishes a nervous system for your organization and builds trust and goodwill.

Seek to Understand Your Boss’s Goals, Priorities, and Pressures
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It is a simple step, but many of us do not take the time to ask. If you don’t know or understand your manager’s goals, you may focus on the wrong tasks and waste valuable time. Simply ask: “What are your goals, priorities, and pressures?”

 

One supervisor I worked with was not forthcoming. He prided himself on being a chess master, “thinking many steps ahead.” He thought that keeping his moves to himself was a strength. This technique was actually a dirty trick used to disorient and destabilize others while he consolidated power. In The 48 Laws of Power, Robert Greene cites “law three: Conceal your intentions: Keep people off-balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no clue what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense. Guide them far enough down the wrong path, envelop them in smoke, and by the time they realize your intentions it will be too late.” If I and the boss’s other direct reports knew where he was heading, we would have been better positioned to help him achieve his goals. He declined, which was frustrating for me and all of his direct reports. Don’t be a boss who keeps your moves to yourself.

 

One of my best managers at the firm would challenge me with field promotions. I wanted to be a leader, and she wanted to train future leaders, so our goals aligned perfectly. She would give me opportunities for stretch roles where I could act like a manager before I was a manager. Later in my career, she asked me to serve in executive roles while I was still a senior manager. The brilliance of this approach is that I could try new roles knowing that when I encountered challenges, there was no harm, no foul. Stretch roles were treated as lower-risk learning experiences. The added benefit of this approach was to build confidence in myself and my supervisor that I would be successful at the next level. You don’t want to be promoted too early only to fail.