All too often, we try to distill the concept of leadership into a philosophy or a set of values. While these are certainly components of establishing a company culture where people thrive, I subscribe to the concept of leadership that’s behavior-driven. Most of all, I think those of us privileged enough to be in positions of leadership must think about everything we do—in addition to everything we think—in order to have people follow us and accomplish great goals.
The notion of “walk the talk” is an oversimplification of what I’m describing. As our company’s chief operating officer and co-founder, I can’t do every single person’s job alongside them. Rather, it’s more about how I act in my own position and how I relate to them that’s relevant to leadership.
My accountabilities in fostering a performance-driven, inspiring company culture at Celero align with how I act toward others here in three key areas: showing integrity, creating and keeping lines of communication open, and being a good human being.
Showing Integrity
Personal integrity refers to one’ ability to live in accordance with their code of ethics, or values. When we live by our values—when we walk the talk—we are strengthened by our own internal sense of integrity and are perceived by others as having high credibility.
When we strive to live with integrity and are perceived by others as having high credibility, this overlapping or alignment of values is what we desire. For me, it means being authentic, following through on my commitments, and keeping promises. It also means saying no to opportunities that compromise us, our people, or our partners in any way.
Communication, Communication, Communication
When people know they can count on you, the next step is to simply stay in touch, whether that person works next door or in a remote location relative to your own. Often it means just being seen, present, and accessible. When we sit down and talk to people, it’s imperative that we’re present, focused, and actively listening.
Communication in a growing company takes on a lot of forms. People need to hear from their leaders when big things like acquisitions happen. But they also need to hear from us frequently on the many projects and pieces of work that drive us forward each day. If things are going well, they need to hear that praise and credit given appropriately. And if things aren’t going so well, they need us to keep it real and keep it direct. Folks can’t improve at what they’re doing without something real and true for holding themselves accountable.
I have to admit, communicating frequently and appropriately about our progress together is one of the larger challenges of a fast-growing company like Celero. Better communication is a goal for me this year at work and at home.
Being a Good Human
It’s hard to remember sometimes that we’re all just people. We get wrapped up in everything we’ve got going on, as well as meeting the expectations of others and ourselves at work. Another way for us as leaders to make people feel like they are at a home away from home, a place where they can work safely to achieve their goals, is to offer them constant reminders of our humanity.
This means keeping your door open, figuratively and literally, where people can share with you anything and everything that’s troubling them and impeding their progress, both on work projects and growing as an individual. It’s also important, while you have that door open, to keep yourself open; that is, show all aspects of your personality, whether it’s your sense of humor, irreverence, or alternative ways of thinking. When we as leaders show our complete selves—as opposed to “Work Jeff” versus “Home Jeff”—our people will be more comfortable in their own skin, and our team, our customers, and our partners will see more benefit as well.
When people work in an environment facilitated by honesty, communication, and treating people in ways where we can all express our full humanity, great things happen. We don’t just talk about these things, but rather, we do them. While I’m certainly not perfect, abiding by these principles and acting upon them mindfully as much as I can leads to much of my personal success in working with others.
