Values II

As I've reflected more in the pursuit of certain situations, I have come more and more to believe values are the cement holding the journey together. The journey of pursuing a vision and/or implementing a strategy is held together by whether basic human values are in play during the journey. Violate basic human values and regardless of how compelling the vision is or how strong the strategy, there will be a huge disconnect. The result of a vast disconnect? Distrust.

When an organization shifts its strategy to seek greater growth while violating basic human values, the result will be demotivation, encouraged passive-aggressive behavior, and a deafening silence (wrongly interpreted as acceptance). Erosion over time begins to take the organization in directions never intended and soon, organizational mojo heads south. Take stock.

The obvious question asks, "What are these basic human values?" Why not ask those in your organization, your immediate contacts and see what answers arise. You might be surprised!

Values

Lots of discussion about values. What are values? Today I spoke on the phone with a pastor friend of mine as their church seeks to identify their particular values. A real quick note. There are two types of "values" in every organization. The first are our stated values. These values are the ones we print everywhere, we proclaim everywhere, we openly talk about and tell stories about. However, there is a second kind of value: operational values. These are actually the values at work in a specific culture or organization. These are the ones actually moving in and out through the doings of the organization. They are ones we endorse and there are ones not endorsed, even desired. I will speak more about this at another time.

Here is how I define values: these are the ways we go about doing while we pursue our vision and mission. IOW, how we pursue vision and mission defines our values. What guides the way we go about our daily operation? Let me give an example. If respect, dignity, and honor are three stated values, I now ask, "How as I go about implementing this new strategy, how will my respect for the others influence the way I go about the implementation process?" To use church language, "evangelism" is not a value. "Discipleship" is not a value. "Encouraging dissent" may be a value. "Honesty" may be a value. 

Values are these soft ways of being as we pursue vision, mission, and life together. If we say we value "people," what is it about "people" we value? And finally, again, how we treat people as we pursue vision reveals our operational values much more than what we state.  

"Family"

Leadership so often focuses on the traits or skills of leadership. Honestly, a leadership focusing on the external forces of leadership fails to take into consideration the power of leadership. Leadership begins with being, not doing. Who the person is says much more about the capacity for leadership than the skill level. 

There is more to family than being just a family. The question is not "family" but the health of a family. My goal as a father/husband is to become a healthy person while in the process of living out those roles (among others).

Leadership within a "family" environment requires increasing health. I recognize how far I have to go on my journey to health. "Family" can be defined as a biological or an organization, whether public, gov't, or private organizations. How much can I link the meltdown of Wall Street with this notion of leadership as being? IOW, a leadership substantiated on being may not have provided the kind of direction that set up an economic system that would eventually return to earth. 

Why do I say this? The ability of leadership to make the difficult and hard choices directly correlates to the state of being of those involved. Leadership often defined by those moments will require a health that goes beyond just being "family." Leadership use of words like "team" and "family" and "working together" only become valid if the leadership involved demonstrates a health born out of a state of being, a healthy person. What happens if we begin to discern leadership which demonstrates a healthiness more than (or at least equalled to) results? Friedman outlines 5 Characteristics of a Chronically Anxious Family. See where they line up with your organization, your "family." I do this with mine all the time now:

1. Reactivity
2. Herding
3. Blame Displacement
4. A Quick-Fix Mentality
5. Failure of Nerve in Leadership

I will write more about these in detail. Stay tuned!

 

Leadership

"In a conversation there is always more than one voice, and one of the voices must be our own or it is no conversation at all. We do not try to overpower others at work with our voice in order to have a conversation, nor do we substitute someone else's for our own, but we are there, we are present, we are heard. We play the tension like a violin string at concert pitch." (David Whyte, Crossing the Unknown Sea, 56) 

I came across this quote this morning at my normal SB place of learning. It struck me because there swirls around at this moment the attempts by some to "overpower" the conversation, all the while claiming to be a team. The day for back room deals done without the participating conversation are done. In a wider cultural shift toward relational models of life, the continued attempts to insist up on the parent-child model of relationships no longer respect and honor the Imago Dei. 

BTW, this notion of "participating conversations" stems from a Triune model of relational leadership and power originating from this original, non-earthly model. The tension of a Trinitarian model challenges our notions of tension-relief, where, rather than living with a courage born from the nature of a gospel, we seek to relieve the tension by refusing the messy process. Process is always of equal value to outcome. The greatest demonstration of this universally is a God who will not force an outcome but invigorates the relational trust by demonstrating Himself more and more through the process than the outcome. We still live outside the Garden because this Trinitarian model decided long ago that process has equal value to outcome. Sure, holding this value of both (process and outcome) is messy and risky. We can easily come to despise (even hate) this God because He will not short-circuit the process to make haste to the outcome.

What does this mean? We who claim to take the path of His Way must always be open to the "Other." Is it messy? Yes. Was the cross messy? Messiness doesn't give us the option of short-circuiting because it is "easier" or "less messy." When positional leadership purposefully ignores the necessary conversations and are unwilling to broaden participation for the purpose of "fiscal responsibility" or other reasons, there will be a messiness that is worse. The violation of dignity, respect, and honor creates a chaos normally unintended. 

Here is where the parent-child model of leadership turns destructive. This model in the workplace violates this very Imago Dei for it does not treat people in the workplace as equals but as children. "We know better" is the impression handed down from deals done in the bedroom. Those who voice dissent are regarded as trouble. I believe what people are looking for as a "distinctive" is not a doctrinal or lifestyle purity but an organization that truly operates differently, an organism that operates with the incredible combination of hand, head, and heart. 

There is always more than one voice in a conversation. Do we practice this or do we mouth the empty and vain words? Stay tuned!