Ideas for Developing Integrity

• Sync words with actions
  • Demonstrate the way you want business to be done as well as the way you want others to be treated.
  • Recognize and trust authenticity.
  • Never miss an opportunity to exemplify core values.
• Avoid Hypocrisy
  • Show respect, consider the welfare of others, and keep your word.
• Establish Integrity as a Habit
  • Consider the long run, subordinate yourself to the mission, and act as a fiduciary.
  • Be intentional about “fixing yourself,” soliciting and taking feedback on board; strive to do better.

Ideas for Developing Respect

• Respect is a high yield investment.
  • As respect levels increase, so do trust levels.  More trust means less politics and fewer personal agendas, making for a more productive, satisfying, and creative environment.
• Positive always beats negative.
  • Steer clear of trash-talking even the competition.  Those who happen to be spared the attack will have reason to mistrust.  Celebrate the good, don’t tear down the bad.
  • Even the most distressing situations can be handled in a respectful way.
• Showing respect isn’t the same as being nice.
  • Real respect is demonstrated by empowering others, giving them feedback, making time for their concerns, and expecting them to give their best.
• Tolerating disrespect allows it to spread.
  • Disrespect can become a contagion.
  • Vigilant leaders always look to nip disrespect in the bud.
  • There should be no tolerance for back-biting, letting problems fester, or failing to give individuals the feedback they need to improve.

Ideas for Empowering Others

• Assume the best.
  • Trusting others, knowing they may trip up, inspires the best in people and can ignite trust throughout the organization. This is a great way to discover new talent.
• Be action-oriented.
  • Empowering teams to act quickly and in controlled environments means missteps are less expensive and people learn faster.
• Eschew the paraphernalia of paranoia.
  • If you can, get rid of the policy manuals and micromanagement. These practices allow for anxiety to develop and the quick erosion of confidence.
  • Confidence in employees will yield confidence in themselves, greater achievement, better service to customers, and higher returns to shareholders.
• Accountability is the requisite companion to empowerment.
  • If power and accountability are separate, mistrust and politics emerge.

Ideas For Establishing Accountability 

• Define what winning looks like.
  • Without clarity about outcomes, nobody can be accountable.  And with no accountability there can be no trust.
  • Clarity empowers people; ambiguity cripples them.
• Set clear expectations.
  • Budgets, timetables, and other project requirements, in addition to the authority to act, constitute full empowerment.  Without accountability to specific criteria, it’s impossible to succeed, and trust withers.
• Expect accountability to enhance trust.
  • Unless people are given responsibility for big-picture outcomes, they know leaders don’t trust them with the important stuff.
  • Most team members will rise to the challenge, feeling trusted with outcomes, not just tasks.
• Accompany accountability with credit.
  • The best leaders give credit to team members who perform well, and step in to absorb the blame when things don’t go well.  (Players take the wins; coaches take the losses.)
  • Trust wilts in the presence of leaders who absorb the limelight.

Ideas for Creating Effective Objectives

• Make your mission inclusive.
  • Articulating a purpose that brings stakeholders together is a good starting point for organizational vision. Find something that all constituencies can root for.
  • The mission of an organization should be to serve customers and create value. Not growth.
• Having a mission means more than having a mission statement.
  • A mission statement should express a unique ways people can be (a) respected members of (b) a winning team (c) doing something meaningful.
  • Make the process participatory and the outcome specific.
• Collect and celebrate “hero stories.”
  • Honor those who are part of your team. Anecdote their stories, and focus on how they play into your mission.
  • Members of high-trust teams love these tangible reminders of “why we’re different.”
• Replace an aging vision.
  • If you can no longer express your organization’s vision in a simple, irresistible way, you’ve probably drifted off track.  That means it’s time to refocus; every member of the team should have a direct line of sight to the podium.
• Don’t think small, do think simple.
  • Pick a goal that the team will be proud to achieve.
  • Keep your team focused on a clear, compelling, and limited set of big goals—no more than three.
• Expect great dreams to require sacrifice.
  • In most functional families, bonds grow and strengthen precisely because so much is required—and given… Leaders too.
  • If you have integrity, show respect, offer and take responsibility yourself, show what the mile markers are, and if the vision is clear and widely held, you’ll be surprised at the sacrifices people are willing to make.

Principles of Communication

• Own the bad news.
  • If people are told only the good, no matter how triumphantly, they will be consumed by mistrust.
  • It’s far better to get out ahead of the news, and to use the setback as an opportunity to build trust by showing respect for your colleagues.
• Discipline yourself to stay positive.
  • When times are tough, ensure that your mindset is set on positivity. Steer clear of all forms of negativity.
  • In times of frustration and disappointment, find ways to let your negative feelings out before interacting with colleagues.
• Pay attention to body language and atmospherics.
  • Research indicates nonverbal behavior is a powerful form of communication. Be aware of what your body communicates.
  • Organizations also communicate a great deal symbolically.  How people dress, where executives eat and entertain, what art is displayed, all matter.
  • When it comes to nonverbal communication, nothing trumps a leader’s actions.
• Consider what budgets say about your priorities.
  • Your budget is among your firm’s most reliable indications of its values.  On teams where the budget doesn’t sync with values, trust disolves.
  • You’re better off saying nothing than saying one thing and budgeting for another.

Ways to Nurture Respectful Conflict

• Set the standard that the best ideas win.
  • If the best idea loses, it can mean that disagreement is so abhorred that many idea never get aired in the first place.
  • Suppressed conflict always finds its way to the surface—later, and in more costly forms.
• Think like a mediator, not a judge.
  • Strong leaders hold back as much as they speak up.  When others are allowed to speak, trust grows.
• Don’t let tensions boil over.
  • Suppressed strife invariably blows up.  Disagreements happen. So, process conflict along the way.

Ideas for Developing Humility

• Remember the mantra: “It’s about the mission, not about me.”
  • Great people can create good organizations, but great organization endure because of values that transcend the individual.
• Gather the history of the organization.
  • Know the remarkable contributors and visibly commemorate the contributions of those who laid the foundation of the company
• When thanking people, be specific.
  • Don’t just say, “Thanks for the great job” Give details. And do it in front of their peers.
• Look for fun, meaningful ways people can interact outside work.
  • Picnics, golf, ball games, and service projects are traditional activities many companies sponsor to build bonds within groups.

How to Engineer Your Attitude to Have Better Negotiations

• Assume this is but one conversations in an ongoing narrative.
  • Getting your way at any cost is not the reputation you want.
  • You’re not obligated to make sure those on the other side get a great deal, but you do want them to feel respected.
• Consider the other side’s interests.
  • When others see your efforts to understand their perspective, they’re likely to be more willing to engage in honest dialogue, which makes it easier to find a win-win solution.
  • You’ll know you’re getting close when you can describe their needs in a way that satisfies them and they can acknowledge the price of what they’re asking for.
• Aim to create value for all parties.
  • The point is not to pummel the other person into submission, as if you win only when he loses.
  • If your counterparty benefits from doing business with you, and you walk away feeling satisfied, you’ve created two wins. This creates a very strong relationship.
• Eschew psych-out tactics.
  • Instead of entering a negotiation focused on who has the upper hand, focus instead on the principles you can all agree on.
  • Honesty is the best policy. Lee Iacocca said: “Being honest is the best technique I can use.  Right up front, tell people what you’re trying to accomplish and what you’re willing to sacrifice to accomplish it.”
• Find power in inquiry.
  • Most people will tell you what they want out of negotiations if you simply ask the right questions.
  • In negotiation, as in life, doing more listening than talking is a good rule of thumb.
• Choose carefully the people you negotiate with.
  • Trammel Crow said: “You can’t do good business with bad people.”
  • You can’t come to fair agreements with people whose only concern is their own short-term gain.
  • Try to negotiate (and to hire and promote) only trustworthy people.

How To Proceed With Care

• In the calm before a crisis, imagine yourself as duty bound to lead.
  • Trustworthy leaders are committed to lead with the chips are down, not to run away.
• Think of yourself as a fiduciary.
  • Having a duty to others makes it more compelling to take on the hard tasks you might be reluctant to do if it were only about you.
• Expect that you’ll have to keep running toward fires.
  • If you choose to lead by investing in trust, expect that you’ll have to keep earning it by the consistent application of the laws of trust.  The pay-off, binding people together in powerful ways—will be worth it.
• Be mindful of the long-term.
  • When tension surfaces in your organization, take a break.  Pick things up later. But be specific, so no one is left hanging: “Let’s revisit this tomorrow after we’ve all had time to think about it.”
• Fear not.
  • Diffidence and doubt are not hallmarks of a high-trust organizations.
  • Fear is the tear in the trust fabric that creates the greatest risks during potential moments of truth.
  • Don’t confuse caution with timidity.