How to Lead by Example
Leading by example doesn’t necessarily mean that you must do all the same things you’re asking your team to do.
It does mean that you must be willing to do whatever it takes.
Whatever needs to be done, you must be willing to do.
If it’s taking out the trash, then it’s taking out the trash. If it’s making cold calls, then it’s making cold calls.
The attitude is modeling the character.
If someone needs to go out and generate a sale, you will pick up the phone and generate a sale. If someone needs to go out and recruit, you’ll pick up the phone and you’ll go recruit somebody. If it means that there’s a difficult conversation that needs to be had, then you’ll have the difficult conversation because you’re willing to do whatever behavior is required to help the team succeed.
How to Build Unity in Leadership
A healthy organizational culture starts with the example set by a unified leadership team.
One of the things we’ve started to look at is a group of self-centered leaders as they are extremely dangerous to the ability of the entire organization to succeed.
The way that we can tell is if the leadership team is cohesive or not because influential leaders know that the effectiveness of any one leader is limited by the cohesiveness of the entire leadership team.
Part of leading by example is protecting the other leaders.
If you don’t do that, you’ve got serious problems.
Another way of saying this is that tiny fractures in the leadership team are manifested as the giant, gaping, cavernous canyons throughout the organization.
It seems small to you.
I have a discrepancy with her or with him, or we’re not on the same page about this.
Those tiny cracks, though, become giant canyons through the rest of the organization, which, again, is why this is so dangerous.
It doesn’t mean you’re going to agree automatically on all these things.
What it does mean is that for the leadership team, you must discuss issues privately so that you can display consensus publicly.
You must discuss issues privately. I’m not saying you all must agree on everything right away.
If there is stuff that needs to be hashed out, hash it out privately.
Healthy leadership teams have intense discussions, but they have intense discussions behind the scenes.
We hash out the moment we close that door, and as we walk out, we are on the same page.
And if you attack another leader, you’re attacking my brother. You’re attacking my sister. You’re attacking my mom.
How to Build Trust in a Team
If people sense disconnectedness between leaders, they distrust the entire organization.
You must have a unified front. Otherwise, the whole thing breaks down.
True leaders build up other leaders.
True influential leaders defend other leaders.
And the default is to giving other leaders the benefit of the doubt.
Even if you hear of something that seems to be a mistake or dumb, you, at least, must hold up a backstop of defending the rest of the leadership team and then go take it up with them.
You can never let the rest of the organization feel like you’re not on the same page because it erodes the fabric of the entire culture.
If trust breaks down, the entire organization breaks down.
How about you? Is your organization healthy? Comment below.
