Have you ever worked for an organization that has plastered its core values all over the walls of the institution? Okay, maybe not literally in every case, but you get my point; the values of the organization are clear and obvious for any employee to find physically and digitally. Such values might include "relentless ongoing improvement", "we do the right thing for the right reason", and "diversity and inclusion", et al.
These organizations preach these values from the day you are onboarded, to every-time upper management gives a company-wide speech, and even within your annual performance review. Needless to say, these organizations make it abundantly clear what their values are. That's a good thing, right?
Well, what happens when these organizations do not act on these values?
An organization values relentless ongoing improvement, but the managers remain resistant to changing their processes.
Another organization values doing the right thing for the right reason, but upper management continues to be punitive toward employees who make decisions that benefit the customer relationship over the company's bottom line.
Your organization might value diversity & inclusion, but its hiring and promotion decisions reflect otherwise; they hire friends of management and promote people whose voices mirror the position of leadership.
Organizational values written on the wall or on your organization's website are just words unless leadership actually Walks the Talk.
Walking the Talk means acting how you say you are going to act. From an organizational standpoint, Walking the Talk looks like leadership acting on the company values as an example for their teams. Walking the Talk also looks like organizations investing money and time into the values they espouse in tangible and measurable ways. Finally, Walking the Talk looks like the embodiment of the organizational values from all levels of the workforce - from the CEO down to the individual contributor.
Walking the Talk is easy enough to say, but hard to accomplish. The larger an organization gets, the harder it is to Walk the Talk. Leaders on all levels must be on board to embody these values, and that simply does not happen all the time. Not everyone agrees with how the organization functions; some want processes to change, others are resistant to change.
Sometimes the lack of action on values is isolated to a handful of managers and their teams. This may be easy to identify, but not always easy to solve. A tenured professor and head of a department may be stuck in their ways, and that permeates down to their staff within the department. The University President may struggle to make progress if they are not equipped with leadership skills and training that goes beyond mere top-down authority and technical knowledge (see Kansas Leadership Center's Competency of 'Distinguish Technical and Adaptive Work').
Other times, the issue may be systemic within the organization. The new CEO of a company may wish to embody the values agreed upon by the previous CEO, but the change goes far beyond middle and upper management; every level of the company is entrenched in its own ways of doing things that are counterintuitive to the stated values. No doubt that Walking the Talk will be difficult when the issue is so entrenched in the organization.
Walking the Talk takes acts of leadership from everyone, not just those in positions of authority.
If you believe that leadership is an activity and not a position, then the responsibility to Walk the Talk falls on everyone within the organization. The simple fact is, modern-day positions of authority do not have the capability to drive top-down change effectively. Leadership requires inspiring those around you to take action! Remember; you alone do not have to have all the answers as a leader. Walking the Talk on your organization's values is not your job alone. What is your job, however, is the ability to motivate others to take action and find a collective purpose.
Sometimes there will be disagreement over how to implement an organization's values. Heck, there may be disagreement over the values themselves. That's perfectly normal and even expected. Acknowledge the disagreement, and engage those voices at the decision table. Ignoring or marginalizing dissenting voices will only build resentment and more dissent. Bring all sides of the argument to the decision table, not just those who agree with you.
Inquire with the dissenting voices on why they disagree. It is tempting to dismiss those voices as perpetual "no's" to any decision up for discussion, but more often than not there is a deeper reason behind that no. Spend some time even one-on-one with the dissenting voices to objectively & empathetically hear what they have to say.
No one ever said leadership was safe and easy. Leadership is quite the opposite; challenging and risky. But if you truly believe in the health and future of the organization you are a part of, then establishing what values everyone can agree on and Walk the Talk on will be that much more meaningful to accomplish. Walking the Talk on an organization's values is a very important step toward fostering a work culture and environment of transparency, accountability, honesty, and integrity.
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