How many "rules" do you have where you work? How many of them help your daily work? Too many can be hard to remember & overwhelming. Let's unpack "rules" a bit...
Rules or Procedures or Values
Rules are guidelines. They carry more weight than suggestions & sometimes are even laws. For example, driving rules increase safety & can save lives. Don't throw gum on the sidewalk is also a good one. Procedures on the other hand guide behaviors systematically. You wouldn't want the Doctor to schedule surgery before taking an x-ray to find out what's really wrong. Values are intrinsic words or statements getting at our "why" we'd like for our lives. The Golden Rule speaks to respect & valuing others.
We've all see posters hanging up in organizations that serve to remind everyone about core values, rules, responsibilities, etc. Very often though, the environment doesn't feel like those aspirations on the wall. We can debate why this happens until the cows come home. Instead, let's talk about two action items to move them from aspiration to reality!
- Make recognition a resource
What is rewarded will be repeated. One of the biggest resources on your team should be recognition. Recognizing when someone has helped you & receiving it when someone shows you their appreciation. More helping & "thank you's" won't hurt anyone will it?
- Unexpressed gratitude becomes resentment
When our actions serve others & go unnoticed, eventually we wonder if it matters at all. A little gratitude can keep resentment from building & tearing apart the team.
These cost nothing to implement & could cost everything if you don't.
Some good examples...
Guiding Principles of Leadership
Barry-Wehmiller, a manufacturing company out of St. Louis, Missouri has this statement as their overarching principle of leadership:
"We measure success by the way we touch the lives of people."
Really? No mention of customers or finances from a for-profit company? From this, you can clearly tell what their core values aspire to. It's in their decisions that reinforce they really mean it. They have robust recognition, innovation & fair compensation programs. They do what they say they will do for their people.
Read more about their story in "Everybody Matters"!
The U.S.S. Santa Fe had these Guiding Principles under Captain David Marquet after he took command of this underperforming nuclear submarine. These emerged from his intention-based leader/leader model after recognizing the leader/follower model had failed.
- Initiative
- Innovation
- Intimate Technical Knowledge
- Courage
- Commitment
- Continuous Improvement
- Integrity
- Empowerment
- Teamwork
- Openness
- Timeliness
- Leadership at every level
A longer list & much harder to memorize for sure. The important thing here is that all these people had taken an oath to defend the constitution of the United States and its citizens against all enemies foreign or domestic. A tall order. A true calling which has a lot of depth just like this list. As you study this list, note the order & ponder why it might have been important in instilling a leader/leader model.
Read more about this story in "Turn the Ship Around".
The world of sports is also a great place to find these examples! Two of my favorites are John Madden, Hall of Fame coach of the 1970's Raiders of the NFL & Bruce Arians of today's Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Coach Madden famously had just three rules when he became the head coach of the Raiders at 32 years old.
- Be on time
- Pay attention
- Play like hell when you're needed
Coach Arians had a long road to become a head coach in the NFL but he's famous for coaching Quarterbacks, arguably one of the most important positions on the team demanding top performance & leadership. He has also maintained just three rules because in his words: "these are the only rules you need."
- Trust
- Loyalty
- Respect
These 2 sets of rules have a lot in common. Being on time speaks to how important it is to provide evidence to others that you are trustworthy. Paying attention shows dedication & loyalty to a common cause. Giving your all demonstrates respect for yourself & teammates to meet any challenge with great effort.
These next three rules were hanging up in an airplane maintenance hangar.
- Know your job
- Do your job
- Communicate if you don't know or are unable to do your job
Once again, note the order. These must be in this order to be effective. One can't do a job unless they know it first. If the first two aren't possible it's clear that some communication is in order. It's particularly interesting that this list was applied to maintenance on airplanes that have lots of complicated systems that must work together for the plane to stay in the air. Keeping the rules simple helps be clear with expectations while not getting in the way of knowing & doing complicated jobs.
Instead of a workplace "bill of rights" we should be focused on implementing a workplace "bill of responsibilities". That way they won't just be nice words on a poster, they'll be felt throughout the team or organization. Deciding on them is a popular exercise. Deciding & doing is less frequent. Let's make the less frequent more prevalent!
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