Do you practice what you preach?

Do you practice what you preach?
Do you inspect what you expect?

These two questions highlight what we often hear when interviewing employees about the leadership in an organization. All too often, employees hear leaders say what is important and then their actions contradict their words. Employees get confused about this and at first, seek to do what the manager says but the more they see the manager not do what s/he says, they do what they see, not what they hear.

Likewise when leadership begins an new initiative, implements a new process or makes any change, for that matter, and they don’t keep attention on the desired change, communicate and give feedback about how the change is going and consistently monitor progress, employees resort to the old ways and often joke about the change being the “flavor of the month.” In both these instances, it is management that loses credibility in the eyes of the employees.

Real talent in organizations demands consistency from leadership. Leaders who “practice what they preach” and “inspect what they expect” build loyal, engaged employees; leaders who don’t, don’t! Have a great week! Mary Anne and Theresa