129: Stop Calling It a Values Issue WHEN You Never Anchored the Standard

Tammy J. Bond Hey, let's just go ahead and say the quiet part out loud. Your team, your company, your organization doesn't have a values problem. You have a leadership problem.

And I know this because I've seen it. And I know that stings just a little for some of you because it's often easier to say that they're not aligned pointing over to the left and they're not aligned. And I'm pointing over to the right and they're not living our values. Then it is to admit this, you never actually defined what they look like in action and what behaviors align to those pretty words you have hanging on the wall.

So of course they're missing it. They're not misaligned, they're just playing a guessing game. And it might feel a little bit like whack-a-mole. Hey friends, welcome back to the Leadership Sandbox.

I'm Tammy J. Bond. And today we're calling it exactly what it is. So I'm telling you right now, stop calling it a values issue when people aren't quote aligned because you never anchored the standard and the behavior and the expectation.

And until you do that, you will keep blaming and finger pointing and you will kick that can that you created down the proverbial road. You see, values don't fail. Vague leadership does. Vague expectations or lack of expectations does.

Values are not the problem. Words like integrity, accountability, respect, my favorite, communication, all beautiful words and they make great artwork on the wall. and they're fantastic for branding to your external audience. But if I walked into your organization right now and asked five people internally what accountability looks like, I promise you I'm getting five different answers.

And some of you might say, Tam, that's not a problem. That's not a team problem. Well, you're right. It's not a team problem.

It's a leadership failure to define the behavior. And it will be a problem when you're setting expectations for people to follow something they can't define that you haven't defined yet. If it's not behavioral, it's operational. If you cannot point directly to observable, repeatable, rewardable behaviors, then your values are nothing more than suggestions.

Be accountable means nothing, or it means something different to everybody based on their definition personally, not what you want for your organization. But here's what does mean something. Setting an expectation like when you miss a deadline on this team, my expectation is you communicate it 24 hours in advance with a revised plan and a by when you're gonna have it completed. Because right then, then we're talking because we just set a standard and expectation that's measurable and that's coachable.

That's what your team needs. That's following values. You're rewarding what you tolerate. Think about that.

You're rewarding what you tolerate. Let me make this really simple for you. Whatever you allow and allow to be repeated becomes the standard. And you can preach respect all day long in the workplace, but if someone interrupts, dismisses, or bulldozes others in meetings and nothing happens, congratulations.

That's your culture and that's the standard you just set. Your team is not confused. They're paying attention to you as the leader and what you're allowing and rewarding. An inconsistency kills trust.

Here's where leaders quietly lose the room. You correct one person, you ignore another, same behavior, different people, different response. And just like that, your credibility just left the building. Because now your quote values feel selective.

based on who you're interacting with or the role they play in the company. And nothing erodes trust faster than unpredictable leadership. I don't know what to expect when I walk in the room or how they're gonna be with me. I'm not sure what to do.

So they do nothing. Here's the other part of it. This is the biggie. You skipped the by when when you gave them assignments or even set a clarity of an expectation.

This one right here is important to sit with for a minute. You gave direction, you had a conversation, you felt really good about it, felt really charged up. They get it. But you never said by when you want something.

You just said, I want the report done. You actually created an interpretation or room for interpretation because you gave them no timeline, which means no ownership and no ownership means no standard. You didn't set clear expectations. You set a hopeful suggestion.

Let's remember this, that agreement does not equal alignment. Leaders often love a good head nod, a good, got it, sounds good, and we walk out of the room thinking we're aligned, because well, everybody was nodding their heads and nobody objected. No, you're not aligned. Alignment requires clarity and clarity requires defining what success looks like.

If you did not say, here's what this looks like, when we do this right, then you actually left a lot of interpretation out there for other people to pick up off the table. You just hosted a conversation. If you're blaming culture, you're avoiding leadership, friends. So I want to close the loop on this.

Your culture is not the problem. Culture is the result of the behaviors and the actions. It's the byproduct of what you define, what you allow, and what you enforce. So when leaders say to me, we've got a culture issue, what I hear is, we haven't done the work to anchor and defend the standard.

And don't just take my word for it. It doesn't matter all the years that I've been doing this in the conversations that I get to have everybody with every week. Only 23 % of employees strongly agree that they can actually apply their company's values in their daily work. That is straight from Gallup.

Half of employees say leaders don't consistently model the values they talk about. And that one burns. And nearly 70 % of people say they'd work harder if expectations were actually clear and tied to recognition. That data comes straight out of Zippia.

So no, your team isn't broken. They're operating inside the ambiguity that you created with your lack of clarity. So here's the reality check, friends. Stop rewriting your values every couple of years.

Stop workshopping your culture and start doing the real work. The actual easiest part of the work is defining the behaviors, the expectations, anchoring the standards, and defend it every single day. Because leadership is not what you say you value. It's what you make non negotiable.

And until it's clear, your team, they're just going to keep guessing. And what's that producing for you? Listen friends, leadership is not something that you're born with. It's something you grow into.

And if your team is guessing, it's time to stop talking about values and start leading like the standards actually matter. I'm Tammy J. Bond. Thanks for joining me in the sandbox today.

Make it a great day and God bless you.