doug smith training

We tend to believe that our values are absolute and true, but to truly know that we need the courage to test them. To withstand resistance and temptation. To try after trying gets hard. Have you tested your values? Have your values been tested? -- doug smith  

Can you reach a durable agreement with someone who does not share your values? Does it depend on which value? Certainly, it matters whether or not someone values truth -- and you could still disagree on what that means. It matters if the value is honesty, integrity, ethical behaviors -- and it matters enough that it is worth getting to know people before you agree too deeply.  Until we agree on values we will never fully agree. And, the cost of pretending to agree is higher than disagreement. Do you agree? -- doug smith  

Leaders encounter a lot of resistance. You can probably think of at least three examples in your own experience of dealing with people disagreeing with you. It probably made your job tougher. Conflict isn't always bad, but it is usually uncomfortable. Even handled well, it takes time.  What can we do to prevent the kind of resistance that wastes time?  We can disagree about details and still get along if we agree on our values. But if we disagree about our values then our details can't be trusted. To build momentum, agreement, and effectiveness, I think that it starts with shared values.  What do you think? -- doug smith

Life is simpler when you follow a clearly prescribed set of ethics and base every decision on it. Or, at least how it feels at first. It's not so simple after all. We are frequently faced with ethical decisions that require either an iron-clad adherence to a principle that will result in an outcome we do not want, or exercising some flexibility in our choice which then risks throwing the entire value out. It is complicated. It requires learning. It requires sophistication not easily developed.  The trouble with unbreakable codes is that they will eventually break you. The trouble with situational ethics is that it might not regard your situation very highly at all. It takes work. It takes clarity, courage, creativity, and compassion in balance to know what is right. And, it takes the patience to realize that after that balance is measured carefully and applied we will still make mistakes. Love first, and step lightly around the rest. -- doug smith  

Some things, no matter what you call them, remain unchanged. Spinning the image or shining the stains won't work when the truth speaks louder than deception. Stealing in the name of game playing or competition is still stealing.  It's simple: do not steal. Not in the name of a cause. Not in the name of a religion. Not in the name of strategy. If you wouldn't want it taken from you, don't take it from anyone else. Do not steal. -- doug smith

Have you ever had a boss who cares more about results than character? The kind of boss who doesn't mind a short-cut ethically if it gets the job done? It's easy to give in to that kind of boss, because they are powerfully insistent. Easy, but not necessary to surrender but your character does matter. Honesty, integrity, ethical behavior -- traits that may not be rewarded but are clearly observed. Any time you cut a corner someone feels the edge. Your team cares about your character even if your boss doesn't.  Strength of character matters and, long term, will serve you well.  -- doug smith

  People rationalize breaking their values all the time. It can be more convenient to let things slip just a little to hit a financial target, or to make payroll, or to reduce overtime, or...you name it. Cutting corners on our values seems easy. But, how does that turn out? The cost to be paid for surrendering against our values might not even be immediate, but it will be certain and it might be profound. The proverbial slippery slope does not lead to a soft landing. It's easy to rationalize breaking a value but much harder to endure the eventual results. -- doug smith

  Have you ever found yourself involved in a mission that feels disconnected from who you really are? It happens far too often. We start by chasing a dream, get distracted by chasing money, and get misdirected by a mission that makes no sense for who we are. Maybe it's the company's mission. Maybe it's your own mission that got lost in the fog of survival. We sometimes face a decision: keep working that mission, or listen to our heart. If your mission is forcing you into actions that make you uncomfortable from a values standpoint, you've likely reached a decision point. If your character and values can't survive your mission, abandon the mission. It's both difficult and simple. Simple in that it tells you what you already know, and difficult because the work still wants to be done, your boss still needs you to comply, your organization has already decided for you. You decide. It's your decision.  -- doug smith  

It's easy to tell someone else how to live your values, but harder to live them yourself. -- doug smith

Our character is defined by the values we live. -- doug smith

Companies sometimes post their espoused values. Do they really live by them? It depends on the company. It's worth asking questions, with curiosity, to see if they really do live by those values. Questions like: what does integrity mean to you? how do you create an environment of development and support? how do you make sure that equal opportunity is an active part of your culture? how do you balance competition and cooperation in your company? can you give me an example of a time when your organization was tempted to do something that would have been good for profit but bad for people? what did you do? Values sound great. Values sound uplifting and noble. It is important to make sure that they are real. The problem with shared values is that they are so rarely shared. Check to be sure. -- doug smith

What does your team think of your character? Do they know and understand your values? Would they say that you are living those values, every day? We work hard at what we do. Leading has its glorious days and it has its tough days. No matter how hard you work, unless your character -- how you behave -- is trustworthy and noble, people will know. If your character turns people away, who will you lead? People will forget your work if your character flaws get in the way. No people are perfect -- not you, not me -- but I do my best to live each day with character and integrity. How about you? -- doug smith Leadership Call to Action: Have a three-part conversation with someone on your team today about one of your values. How to do the three-part conversation: Small talk Talk about one of your values and what makes it important Appreciation for something that team member does that demonstrates that value or some aspect of that value

Values evolve over time. If values are ever true, they refine without denying what once was. They grow. They distill. They find ways to self-generate the results they aspire to. Here are some values I've refined into calls to action. I don't just agree with them, I expect to do them. To show them. To act on them. Sometimes it goes well, and often I fall short. The journey is a long one, so keep going. Here are my current calls to action: Be your best Stay curious Say yes! Communicate, Connect, Interact! Challenge yourself Reach out with compassion Expand your possibilities Appreciate Play nice, work hard, stay smart Learn constantly What are your values? What are your calls to action? -- doug smith

It's much easier to agree on our goals when we share our most important values. -- Doug Smith

Have you ever had to work with someone who does not share your values? In all honesty, I think we all do that all the time. Our values are important, and we strive to live by them every day, but not everyone shares those values and yet we do need the help of people who have different values. It IS so much easier to work with people who share our values. Shared values build trust. Shared values build understanding. Shared values build collaboration. But sometimes we have to be a role model for those values and hope that our demonstration of our values in action will show their merit. By being a positive example of our values in action, we might just encourage other people to embrace those values. And by showing our willingness to work with people we disagree with we can show how we facilitate, rather than force, our way of living. It's harder to collaborate with people who don't share our values -- but not impossible. Who have you been avoiding because of their value

How do you measure success? Having been a manager, supervisor, and project leader for many years I've had to evaluate team member success in many different ways. We usually focus on performance that is connected some how to customer happiness. Sometimes, that's not as important in our metrics as profitability. It's easy to lost track of why we're doing what we're doing if we don't measure the right things. I learned as a supervisor that if you're not careful about what you measure and how you reward performance that people will achieve the metrics you want even if they have to game the system to do it. They can miss the whole point of the exercise and instead worry about getting the reward. We shouldn't do that to people and we shouldn't let them do that to us. We should use measures that tell us how we are doing about our financial performance, yes of course, AND also how we're doing at meeting our mission. Are we serving our purpose? Are