Workplace, Leadership and Value

With all the seismic shifts in workplace behavior, I applaud the recent swing toward raising consciousness around gender equality, respect, accountability and fairness in the workplace. My hope is that it will continue to inform and inspire a new and lasting norm for corporate, as well as broader cultural behaviors. These shifts are unfolding and evolving in different ways, but to be sure, it's a work in progress. We have a long way to go.

That being said, it's worth examining a piece of the equation that is at the heart of workplace behaviors; the current paradigm of how "people leadership" is actually valued. Recognizing great leadership needs to strike a better balance between "what" you did, with "how" you did it with and by people. In the case of current events, it's pretty clear that these behaviors have long been overlooked due to the "what," not the "how." In my experience over the past 30+ years, "people" success has often taken a back seat to bottom line performance.

Obviously, financial success is measured through revenue, profit and loss, projections, social media performance, perceived shareholder value, shifts in market share, etc. All very important. But arguably, leadership success should be more often measured through additional criteria; team satisfaction, positive modeling, growth and development. On numerous occasions, I've seen leaders reap high rewards, recognition and advancement as a result of business success, while at the same time leaving a bloody wake of personnel casualties along the way. The message was clear; effective people management just didn't matter. At all.

I don't want to make sweeping generalizations here. A lot of companies strive to understand and address workplace behaviors, and I applaud them. However, my argument is that plenty of them do not go beyond just saying that it matters. My question is, what are they doing? Just because saying so on the investor relations website doesn't mean change is happening in the workplace. Recent events support that. The boilerplate corporate response to recent allegations of inappropriate workplace behavior is: "These are not consistent with the values and beliefs of our company." OK, if that's true, then how can you let this happen? As a shareholder, I would argue that they not only have a systemic problem, but a cultural one that's been clearly overlooked by the freight train of business success.

In order for great people leadership to be rewarded, it needs to be recognized in the first place. The best leaders throughout my career had one thing in common; something hard to measure; intangible yes, but easy to feel. It reminds me of something a non-commissioned officer said about Major Dick Winters in the mini-series "Band of Brothers:" "He was the one that I would follow into the water. He was always the first in front, the first to go in...to do the tough jobs." Or something like that. What's clear is that Winters deeply cared about his troops, their safety, well-being and success, in that order. Needless to say, the stakes were different then but relevant today.

This intangible doesn't need to be so. If more companies formalized and institutionalized people leadership traits as critical, measurable criteria for success, it would go a long way toward healthier workplace environments. Again, formally recognizing these traits would be a start by providing benchmark behaviors around mentorship, modeling, advocacy, growth planning, and development. By rewarding these behaviors, it would lend meaning and teeth toward the issue.

Then again, they have to back it up, every time. For real. Not just on the website.