You know how sometimes you don't know what you are going to write about and you fear that you are going to have to write some hastily thrown together ideas that don't really make any sense?
I had that feeling this morning.
But the Universe? She didn't want that to happen. So she sent me a gift.
A little office birdy emailed me to tell me about a sign that Veronica had posted above her desk. The sign is entitled The 13 Behaviours of High-Trust Leaders.
Gold right?
I'm not going to go through all 13 because that would waste your time and mine. But I think the highlights? I think those are worth sharing.
I flatter myself that I have painted a pretty good picture of Veronica thus far. So I hope that with that groundwork in place you will enjoy this as much as I do.
You know what the first 2 behaviours are? Talk Straight and Demonstrate Respect. She fails on both counts. I never know what Veronica is trying to tell me, her emails are littered with grammatical errors that completely destroy meaning and she never says what she means. As for respect...please see yesterday's post. I have never worked under someone that is less respectful of their co-workers time, efforts and understanding.
The 4th one is good too: Right Wrongs. It goes on about how when you make a mistake you need to own it, apologize and make it right. Hell no. Veronica is all about making other people responsible for mistakes. I don't think that I have ever heard her admit that she was wrong or made a mistake. Like ever. But she is all over pointing out other people's mistakes and making them pay for them too.
Number 8 is Confront Reality. For someone that has been with a guy for 9 years who has told her he isn't going to marry her ever but who insists on forcing the issue, I'm thinking reality isn't high on the list of priorities. But I'm sure that a sign on the wall telling her (in size 8 font, photocopied) will really encourage her to do just that.
Ten revisits the accountability thing (I guess this is important for High-Trust Leaders) and 12 tells her to Keep Committments. So if you say that you are going to send an email discussing how certain email behaviour is inappropriate, it means that you need to go ahead and follow through. This way your underlings will actually have faith in you going to bat for them. Not that that would ever happen here, but at least she is striving for that?
I think my favourite of all though was number 5: Show Loyalty. This includes giving credit where its due, recognizing the work of others and not talking behind others' backs. I think you can see why this is my favourite. It really speaks to her hypocritical nature that she would post this above her head to look at every day, to strive for, while absolutely disregarding all the rules.
Looking through again there are some things that she is already doing: Part of 1's Talk Straight does include using simple language. And number 6's Deliver Results says not to make excuses and she doesn't- for other people. She's obviously well on her way.
What really struck me about this list was that these were all common sense things. Respect other people, take ownership of your mistakes, be loyal, trust and be trustworthy- all basic tenets of being a decent human being, things that your parents probably should have mentioned once or twice. I personally believe that you are either born a leader or you aren't. I don't think you can learn how to be a leader when you are 24 and have no idea who you are or what you want for yourself. Lots of money and pretty things doesn't count as knowing what you want by the way.
But it did provide us something to laugh at this morning and for that I thank the Universe.
If you want to see the full list, complete with examples (who doesn't love a good example?) click here . And if that doesn't work, google The 13 Behaviours of High-Trust Leaders. You will not regret it.
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