Walk the Talk

Did you know that Supervisors who practice their personal values in the work place have a powerful influence on the actions of their staff and co-workers?

Employees become engaged at work when they believe in whom they are working for and what they are working towards.  They look at their supervisors as role models and base decisions and actions according to the values their SUPERvisors practice.  For example, an employee may be more likely to use his cell phone in a no cell phone environment if he has seen his supervisor do it versus one who has a SUPERvisor that sets the example by following the rules.   The bottom line is, it’s important to not only know what your company values are but to practice and align them with your own and those of your employees.  Employees become disengaged when a supervisor’s leadership style does not coincide with their own or the companies written (handbook, newsletter, emails) values.  If one of your values is based on punctuality and you are never on time, employees will not see the urgency of getting to work or back to work accordingly.  According to ELI’s, THE CASE FOR VALUES IN THE WORKPLACE, survey, “83% of business costs were attributed to issues such as decreased productivity and quality, increased complaints, and high employee turnover”, all consequences of a leadership style without values.  As SUPERvisors, our decisions and actions should be based on our written values and the values we have aligned to engage our employees.  If one of your company values is based on hard workmanship and you have a reputation for surfing the web or making personal phone calls during work hours, your employees will lose respect for you and mirror your behavior.  So, if one of your values is based on hard workmanship, your employees should really only see you working hard.  It's the old if you’re going to “talk the talk, you need to walk the walk” idea.  Setting the example is the only way a SUPERvisor can teach values in the workplace.  It doesn’t seem like much but think about what an impact adding values to your department can make, especially after hearing that 83% of business costs are due to lack of values.  Think about how great it would make you if you increased productivity and quality and decreased complaints and turnover!    

Take Action:   This week “walk the talk”.  Align  employee values with your own and those of the company.  Make sure you communicate the values to your employees and incorporate them in your own behavior.  

Keep On: 

• delivering the VIP Treatment
• being the Expert Extraordinaire
• giving and continue to establish a good reputation
• copycatting the Successful SUPERvisors of your past
• telling yourself that you’re a Super SUPERvisor!
• believing.  Remember, you’ve made the conscious decision to lead.