More is CAUGHT than TAUGHT….especially when it comes to leadership.
Here’s a great example that demonstrates this.
I was coaching a senior leader of a large quality department…
Her department was often in conflict with the operations. Not an uncommon thing in the manufacturing industry.
However, this conflict was a much bigger issue and it cascaded deep into both departments – from the TOP of each department all the way down to the front line employees.
It all came to a head one day…and happened to be while I was there on site!
I was in this leader’s office when one of her direct reports (a supervisor) came into her office. The supervisor knew me and asked if she could interrupt to share an update with her boss.
She told her boss (the leader I was coaching) of all the ‘horrible’ things going on with operations.
Her boss responded with an even higher level of irritation, frustration, and a few expletives about the senior leader of operations.
Once the conversation ended, the supervisor left the room and the senior leader was able to refocus on our coaching conversation. I then asked if she was open to me sharing some observations.
Knowing this leader wanted to GROW her relationship and results with her peers and the operations department, I shared my observation of what had occurred and asked what her supervisor might have just ‘CAUGHT’ from their exchange?
She immediately recognized her highly triggered response’s impact and that if she ever wanted to grow her relationship/results with operations, it must begin with her MODELING the mindset and skillset of being a true team member with her peer.
She realized she didn’t need to allow her frustration to resort to throwing her coworker under the bus and modeling that behavior for her own team members.
MORE IS CAUGHT THAN TAUGHT.
This is just one example. This happens in many ways at many levels of leadership. But leaders can be the catalyst who transform culture by modeling the behavior they want to see in their employees.
And something really powerful that leaders can do…
When they behave in a way that is contrary to how they want their team members to show up, they can APOLOGIZE to their team members for setting a bad example.
This can affirm the behavior they wish to see and also establish trust and openness with their team. A leader who apologizes when necessary is a leader whose employees can RESPECT and FOLLOW.
This is the kind of culture transformation that sticks.
It’s not the kind that’s easy. But it’s the kind that gets results.
If you want to see this kind of transformation happen for YOU as a leader and for your team—the Coach Approach to Leadership™ is the answer. DM me and we can chat about what a solution would like for you!