You see them everywhere. Plaques up on the wall emblazoned with the company mission and values. They are even in many homes, lists of rules, values or platitudes to live by.
There is nothing wrong with the plaques. Most of them look nice and communicate important messages about why a group labors together and invests in relationships. They communicate a set of standards to get everyone on the same page. The plaques are not bad. They are just not very effective on their own.
What if instead of plaques, you put up pictures of people, historical or even better, coworkers in the office, with relevant captions to communicate the desired message? An easy example would be a picture of Lincoln with a caption such as, “Be honest like this guy” or “When life required him to fight a war, he went to the library and learned how do it.” A better example would be Jane in your office who everyone knows is punctual and dependable. Hopefully you have lots of Janes you can use as examples for the various traits or behaviors you want to emphasize, but if not, fill in the gaps with historical, contemporary or even fictional people everyone has a working knowledge of.
The difference between asking your team to emulate people versus a list of words is significant. When you ask someone to behave like another person, you give them a rich guidepost they can relate to, study and work to emulate. They can ask themselves, “How would ______ handle this?” and come up with an answer. The words on the wall, while true and understood at some level, offer shallow guidance in comparison.
Whether in the home or in the office, people are designed to follow people. Give your team a clear idea of who you are asking them to be like and you will begin to see meaningful change and alignment.
1 Comment
Simple and genius way to cascade your values everywhere in your organization.
Thank you