Value Based Leadership

If you treat people as they are will make them worse. If you treat people as the
y should be treated, so that you will help them become what they are capable of
becoming. (Goethe) Today, the word leadership is used more and multifaceted ente
rprises. There are hundreds of different labels for leaders and leadership style
s, where values fit, but that means Leadership based on values? Who is a leader?
Not someone who tells you what to do. Someone who simply tells you what to do i
s a boss. You do so because he said to do so. A leader is someone you want to fo
llow, but you are required to follow. The authority is required as part of life
in society and to work in enterprises, but this alone is not sufficient to make
a leader. The original meaning of the word 'leadership' is a continuing journey
in the company of others. Thus a leader is going somewhere, he has one goal and
one vision. It attracts the other, then it has appeal, and influence others. Tho
se who join him on a journey, confident that he knows the road. Thus, being a le
ader comes from the natural human effort to reinvent himself. This means develop
ing yourself. This involves the ability to see the whole picture and the system
more widely, and watch where you're putting your feet on the road. And that mean
s inspiring others to join you on the road. The authority is given, but leadersh
ip needs to be earned. Imagine this company. In one department, she has a boss w
ho tells people what they should do and expect them to obey. This boss is not in
terested in their staff, they are only a means to achieve one purpose - to get r
esults. He has little interest in his staff, does not help them relate what they
do with the company vision, and is not interested in what is important to them.
Their motto is 'It is either my way or not at all'. He has authority, but, stra
nge as it may seem, people often seem to find excuses for not doing what he says
. The people in his department are unhappy with their jobs and are delayed. When
things get delayed, it reacts by making more than they already are doing. He is
the archetype of the boss. Fortunately, this type is fading away very quickly b
ecause their methods do not work. However, some elements of this dinosaur can st
ill be found in many companies. Contrast this with a leader. The leader has an i
nterest in his staff, he knows his staff as individuals, and he knows and respec
ts what is important to them. He knows that the same incentive does not work for
everyone and so he does not try to impose it for everyone. He does the coaching
staff, not only for those who are not performing well, but also for those who a
re doing well. People feel they are contributing to the organization and respect
their manager. He finishes his work, but does not rely only on his authority, b
ut the fact that his staff want to do the job well done. He inspires his staff t
o do everything they can. This is the manager who is a leader. What if all manag
ers were
like this? All managers can pay attention to value-based leadership - in their o
wn values of respect and justice, and motivate and inspire others through what i
s important to them, not through what is important in itself. A boss has power,
a leader has influence. A boss depends on your position of authority, a leader g
ains the authority to be respected by his staff. A boss gets people to do things
and a leader gets people to want to do things. Why do they want to do things? B
ecause they are motivated and inspired by what is important to them and that is
values-based leadership. There are two paradoxes about leadership based on value
s. The first is that it can only be given and can not be taken. A person can hav
e power and authority, but this is not the same as leadership. People follow a l
eader because they want to and not because they are obliged to follow. A leader
without followers or fellow travelers is like the sound of one hand clapping. Th
e second paradox is that the first person who inspires is a leader himself. As a
leader can inspire others to join a journey if he can not inspire yourself? So
as leaders make people want to follow them on the journey? They appeal to what i
s important. All leaders have a vision, a vision of how the world could be,€we
all have our individual views, but leaders explore something more than just thei
r views, they explore a common vision. They are on a journey and this journey is
important to them. And when we talk about how important we are talking about va
lues, are simply what is important to you. Values provide the energy to get out
of bed in the morning, they provide the fuel for the journey towards our goal. W
ithout values, the journey can not begin. Take a moment to think about some lead
ers that you admire. People with whom you identify. They can be in any area: fro
m business, religious, military or any area of life. They can be famous people,
or friends or family members you know well, but others do not know. What these p
eople have in common? One thing they should have in common is that they appeal t
o something that is important to you. If appeal not, you could not admire them.
You recognize these people as leaders because what they do and what they mean is
important to you. The values of these people identify with their values. Good m
anagers will deal with problematic behaviors of view of values. Instead of simpl
y challenging behavior, they make it clear that the behavior is unacceptable, wh
ile track and recognize the values that lie behind it. The behavior has a purpos
e. We always act to get something that is important to us, something we value. U
nfortunately, the actions or behaviors that we have to achieve our goals may not
be very good, and can cause many problems for others. For example, a manager we
know, had many problems with a member of your team. This person constantly chal
lenged the views and proposals of other members. He played the devil's advocate,
finding flaws in the details. That
turned out to be very stressful. The other team members began to resent him, one
of them said, 'I would not feel so bad if he could contribute something positiv
e once in a while, but he is always so negative ...'. The behavior of this perso
n was destroying the rapport of the team, however this area of expertise was ess
ential and could not be replaced in the current project. We suggest to the manag
er to call this person aside, ask him what he wanted to get through this challen
ge and why it was so important to him. This showed that he valued the security a
t a very high degree. A project in his previous job had ended in disaster becaus
e the plans have not been checked properly and crucial details were left out. Th
e company lost a lot of money. He swore to himself that it would never happen ag
ain in any job where he was involved. 'I wish that the plan is absolutely foolpr
oof in every detail, "was how he expressed it. The safety and accuracy of the de
tails were very important to him, and our friend shared these values and said th
is. Then comes the question that is worth $ 1 million. 'His constant challenge i
s to get what you want? " The answer was no. The other team members were not pay
ing attention to their contribution, they were not listening, were agreeing with
him only in an attempt to move forward. This caused him to be even more nervous
and challenged others even more. The manager suggested that he had a very usefu
l function as Devil's Advocate Group, but should wait until the plans were in a
reasonable stage of training before asking for more details. He agreed. After th
at, the efficiency of the group soared. Others knew they had the space they need
ed to develop their plans and suggested they were good plans. The challenges ari
se later and be more constructive and valuable. Several small improvements have
made the project more cost-effective. Our friend accompanied the values of this
individual and used these values to the benefit of the group. An extensive study
of leadership in mid-sized companies from Europe showed that approximately two
thirds of the major decisions were made in line with the stated strategy of the
company. However, only about a third of the decisions of average importance was
aligned with the stated strategy of the company. This seems reasonable because o
n the outside, but remember that major decisions were made behind closed doors b
y a small group of people at the top and the implications maxims were often kept
secret for good commercial reasons.€The less important daily decisions that af
fected employees were taken outdoors and most of these were not consistent with
company strategy. People saw every day, that the companies were not doing what t
hey were talking, and this can lead to disillusionment and cynicism. At the extr
eme, there is the example of a large organization in the United States that had
published one of his core values were put employees first. This same organizatio
n has cut benefit payments to health plans and increased spending on association
s of country clubs for the high-ranking executives. This is not value-based lead
ership, and this organization can not even complain if the
people realize this and become cynical. This is an important lesson - cling to t
heir values. For sure, people will see. And that's important. The value-based le
adership can come from anywhere in your organization. What is certain is that if
the people at the top does not show it, they lose respect. People will be cynic
al about the values and even despise. Then they will begin to work only for mone
y, and all polls show that although it is important to pay a fair wage for peopl
e, when this is achieved, then other values are more important than money, parti
cularly challenging, progress career and respect. Unless a manager to lead their
staff make their work challenging and rewarding, and respect, they may very wel
l change jobs, taking with them all those high knowledge and expertise, hard-won
, for the competitors of his former bosses. Thus, it is easy to see that value-b
ased leadership is not an abstract ideal, but it is taking care of our own inter
ests and good management.
© 2006 Joseph O'Connor