Number 1: You are only as good as your word. Once your word is no good, your team is no good. Integrity is everything. The difference between keeping your word and honouring your word is that keeping your word is sometimes humanly impossible as there are many outside forces over which you have no control. Honouring your word means that when you give our word you will honour it unless something happens that makes that impossible, at which time you will admit that you can’t honour your word and then face any consequence and clean up the fall-out from breaking it.
Number 2: The culture of your team will be a reflection of you, the leader – a quick way to determine the culture you will create (a reflection of your values) is to think about which behaviours you will reward and which ones you will discipline.
The worst behaviour a leader tolerates will determine the culture.
Number 3: The Achilles heel of any leader is their followers. If the followers stop following, you don’t get to lead. Your role is to support the team reporting to you – you work for them even though people will lead you to believe that they work for you.
People may obey a boss, but they follow a leader.
Number 4: Take care of yourself mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. You will only be good for your team and the company if you look after your health. Don’t sacrifice family, friends, your health or well-being. Don’t compromise your values and integrity at the whim of a lesser leader without consulting first with your mentors and yourself through deep contemplation of the long-term gains and risks. Living without integrity is the greatest health risk over the long term.
Number 5: If you mess up, ‘fess up! Have zero tolerance for finger pointing, fault finding, and blaming others – in yourself and in your team. Let your crew know that if they come to you because they are unable to get their work done due to someone else, you will bring that someone else into the conversation, you will make sure they get what they need to do their work, and then you will have them come up with a plan to prevent it from happening again. This will prevent several hundred hours a month wasted on whining, moral degradation, and self-protective behaviours because of backstabbing. Life will mostly be about getting the job done when they don’t have to worry about their teammates persuading you in to ‘picking a side’. There is no ‘picking a side’ – decisions are made only after you hear and understand all the angles.
©ADR Learning Institute 2018
