Are you unknowingly creating an ‘integrity gap’ as a leader?
The “do as I say, not as I do” leadership style no longer works…
One of the most common reasons why leadership development programs fail is because of a lack of participation from executives & senior leaders.
When you commit to transforming your leadership culture, but the executives/senior leaders don’t feel they need to be part of the process, it sends the remaining leadership team 2 messages:
1. This isn’t important enough for me as an executive to commit my time to it.
2. I’m already a great leader & don’t need additional training.
Often companies call us in to request training for their front-line leaders. And every time we’ve accommodated the request, the same thing happens…
We call it the ‘integrity gap.’
The front-line leaders start to see what great leadership should look like & it shines a spotlight on the gaps in the executives’ leadership.
We hear things like:
“Well, our boss doesn’t do this…”
“This isn’t how our corporate office does things…”
“Our leadership team wouldn’t let us do it this way…”
Or, “This isn’t going to fly with senior leadership.”
The “do as I say, not as I do” leadership style doesn’t work because more is often caught than taught.
For a leadership program to be truly effective, you must have the buy-in, participation & modeling of great leadership by the executive & senior-level leaders.
We can’t expect others to embody great leadership if we’re not walking our talk.
Are you modeling the type of leadership you want to see in others?