You Want the Truth?
How cohesive is your company, your department and your team? How much can they, and you, withstand?
In my first article on the Presents of Leadership, I focused on Presence and Authenticity. I chose those because of the current Covid-lockdown and work-from-home practices of many companies. Today, I want to look at another of Bob Iger’s principles for authentic leadership, Integrity. As a subset of integrity, I also include a piece on giving and taking credit.
In the Air Force, Aircraft Structural Maintenance specialists maintained the aircraft’s structural integrity and the crew’s safety who flew them. Aircraft structural integrity is “the ability of a structure to withstand its intended loading without failing due to fracture, deformation, or fatigue.” Commercial airplanes require the same integrity.
The US Marines and Navy Seals describe the seriousness of integrity as the cohesion of their fighting units. Police, worldwide, depend on integrity as the foundation of their jobs.
So too, do our businesses demand integrity.
Integrity Takes a Team
When I think of integrity, I think of the entire system, not just a word on a wall nor an individual who claims to have integrity.
Integrity is how the strategy, the marketing, finance, technology, HR, product, sales, operations, and service organizations work together. If part of it doesn’t work, the integrity of the system is broken.
While discussing Covid-19 testing, Defense Secretary Dr. Mark T. Esper said,
“Generally, the smaller the unit, the easier it is to preserve the integrity of the unit.”
Discussing cohesion, Lt. Col. Rob Lyman writes of integrity,
“Cohesion. The bonding together of members of an organization/unit in such a way as to sustain their will and commitment to each other, their unit and the mission.
Cohesion also refers to the attitudes and commitments of the individual soldiers to the integrity of the unit, the will to fight.” (ref)
Of the ancients, “The Spartans placed great importance on their shields as their primary purpose was not personal protection but to maintain the unit’s integrity.”
In Ride of a Lifetime, Bob Iger writes, “Nothing is more important than the quality and integrity of an organization’s people and its product.” He should know. He was the CEO of ABC and The Walt Disney Company.
Integrity is not a word. It is a system, and everyone plays a part.
The Present: If your business unit isn’t working cohesively, look for gaps in integrity between teams and team members. Ask yourself if your presence includes having a working knowledge of how these systems work together.
A Good Leader Gives Credit Where It’s Due
Nothing kills the buzz more than when a manager takes back the present of giving credit where it is due. Steve Jobs said it best, “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.”
In a recent leadership position I held, we paid off tens of millions of dollars of debt, increased profit margins by double digits, cut development time from months to weeks to days, and still improved service levels. All of that was through the leadership and excellence of the teams, their managers and their staff. At times it worked despite corporate bureaucracy. And, most times, without me.
Lao Tzu in the Tao te Ching wrote,
A leader is best
when people barely know that he exists,
not so good when people obey and acclaim him,
worst when they despise him.
Fail to honor people,
they fail to honor you.
But of a good leader,
who talks little,
when his work is done,
his aims fulfilled,
they will all say,
“We did this ourselves.” (Ch17)
Insecurities drive fear and the need to take credit for someone else’s work. To a leader there is no greater feeling than when a team member feels acknowledged and appreciated.
In fact, to many, acknowledgment is the greatest reward.
The Present: The times I am most fond of are when previous staff members share a sense of pride in their work, without me (or anyone else) taking the credit away from the work they performed.
Closing Thoughts: A Career Takes a Network
I love people and spending time with them in their careers. If there is a fit where we work, excellent. If they’ve outgrown our company, my goal is to help them prepare for what’s essential in their next role or at their next company.
People’s careers are personal to them. Helping them figure it out lasts a lifetime.
I have learned to appreciate the axiom, “People don’t quit companies, they quit people.” While there are few exceptions, a narcissistic boss will find excuses for why their management team has resigned, argues, or does not deliver rather than consider their involvement in why staff leaves.
There is merit when employees follow each other around from company to company because the network is stronger than the job or the company. And those who refuse to stay when they recognize a career-limiting role demonstrate leadership in their careers.
In his book Winning, Jack Welch writes of the pairing between a great company and your career, “Working for some companies is like winning an Olympic medal. For the rest of your career, you associate with great performance and success.” And later he writes of working in, “a culture of integrity, meaning a culture of honesty, transparency, fairness and strict adherence to rules and regulations.”
To that, I would ask if your manager helps your company and you achieve the integrity, performance and success you seek.
Only you know.
The Present: You will know a tree by its fruit (and branches). Small branches, small (or no, or lessening) fruit, narrow trunk. Thriving trunk, significant branches, much fruit.
And shade for passersby.
As managers, leaders, supervisors, and team members, we bring ourselves to a place of work every day. As managers, leaders, and supervisors, our teams entrust themselves to us every day.
Whether you have the presence of leadership or not, your teams should feel that your leadership is a present.
Every day.
And in the end, maybe your teams will feel they did it themselves
