Tidbits of Joy #15 - Integrity

Dear AdNet Employees, Clients and Friends;

Do you have a person on your team or in your life who can’t seem to keep their agreements? You, as the leader, may have clearly laid out the process of the steps that need to be followed and received an acknowledgment of acceptance. In our personal lives, we may have had the conversation with someone and we both agreed on what to do. We leave the conversation, often with a smile on our face that we are good to go and all will be seamless and stressless. It’s a great feeling, right? Then it happens, the things talked about and agreed to, don’t happen and the person did exactly what they were asked not to do. Why? That question comes up in thousands of leadership and personal growth books. Many of us reading this email have read hundreds of those books and participated in leadership conferences delving into this topic. Yet, we still encounter the few, who simply choose to say yes and do it their own way. It takes courage to dig deep to understand our flaws. We all have them.

Over the years, I learned to intervene much faster when someone on whatever team I am on, says “yes” and takes the “no” road. Tolerating the behavior thinking it will change eventually wore me out. I don’t have the answer of why someone in a workplace will repeatedly not follow clearly laid out protocol. Processes are put in place after well thought discussion often with many people involved who experienced the value of the directive. If you are one of those few who likes to push the boundaries of not following a workplace guideline perhaps to see what you get away with or you are determined to get what you want when you want it, that approach is eroding trust and that just plain stinks!! You may think you are being “right” yet in the big picture of teamwork, it’s not the right thing to do for the greater good.

For the courageous people on my email list, please read Dare to Lead by Brene Brown https://daretolead.brenebrown.com/. We are in a world where we need to foster healthy and compassionate workplaces and home lives. To do that, we may need to have tough conversations. Sweeping behaviors under the rug makes the pile of dirt grow bigger and bigger. It does not go away, and the vacuum cleaner can’t pick it up!! If you have someone on your team who repeatedly does not follow protocol, alienates team members, and keeps pointing the finger elsewhere without being accountable, I invite you to read Dare To Lead.

While we are still in remote work phase, this is an excellent time to delve deeply into our behaviors and make the changes that will make for a peaceful return to our workplaces.

Be well, my friends.

Betsy