Lead by your actions, not just your words
Role modelling, or leading the way, is a very important and significant element of leadership.
Let’s take a minute to look at how your actions and behaviours impact those you lead. It’s a lot like responsible parenting.
Children in functional family units grow up and mature as a pretty reliable reflection of how they have been raised. Parents, carers, teachers, and those people children and adolescents spend a lot of time with are responsible, often unconsciously, for moulding the youngsters around them.
I’m sure you are familiar with concepts and sayings like “they’re a chip off the old block”, or “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”.
And so too it is with people you lead on a daily or regular basis.
As a leader, as a person of significant influence, your actions and behaviours absolutely impact the people you lead – and others in your orbit. As a frontline leader you need to be acutely aware of the messages you send by your actions and behaviours.
What you do and how you do it says a lot about you, how you think about things and what’s important to you – and what’s important “around here”. Walking the talk means don’t just say it, do it. Lead by example. And that means you not only have to be constantly aware of your actions and behaviours, but you also need to identify which of your actions and behaviours you need to change to influence your team.
A simple example of leadership behaviour that can be addressed to effect change across your team is punctuality. If you often turn up late for meetings or appointments you are sending the message to everyone around you, particularly the people you lead, that it’s okay to arrive late. If it’s okay for you as the leader, then it’s okay for them to also not respect start times. It says that punctuality isn’t important around here.
As Carolyn Taylor says in her excellent leadership book Walking the Talk:
“If you intend to take any position of leadership (on culture) you will have to become a role model of what you are seeking to create.”
Walking the talk implies that the behaviours of you as a leader will drive the behaviours of your team. As the leader you will set the boundaries and the standards that others follow.
Carolyn goes on to say:
“For things to change first I must change”.
What actions and behaviours do you need to change, and why are they important?
List any of your actions and behaviours that you think should be addressed – or changed- to send more positive messages to your team. Be sure to identify not only the action or behaviour, but also why changing it is important, and the effect it will have.
The GROW Adviser and Leadership Capability programs cover this topic in more detail and help build a robust understanding and exceptional leadership and engagement skills.
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