Values-based Leadership for Dummies

Benefit from values-based leadership

Values-driven organizations are considered by some to be the most successful on the planet. They have high levels of engagement, generate higher earnings, and are more profitable by having an inclusive, multi-tiered strategy. It’s a win-win! In Values-Based Leadership For Dummies, you’ll get a fool-proof plan for putting the principles of values-based leadership in action—which will inspire and motivate others to pursue what matters most.

With many Baby Boomers edging toward retirement, the largest generation in history, the Millennials, will be taking over the reins and stepping into leadership roles. They’ve suffered through the difficult economic times and corporate scandals of the early 2000s and they want things to be different. Inside, you’ll get the framework for adopting the principles of values-based leadership that will help Millennials—and any member of any organization—thrive:  utilizing the tools of self-reflection, actionable grace, agility, and a commitment to lead responsibly.

• Establish leadership positioning and company culture steeped in values
• Foster employee engagement on all levels
• Inspire greater performance while creating real impact socially and economically
• Increase the ability to remain competitive and relevant during times of change
• Harness the passion and commitment of the millennial workforce 

Whether you’re in an entrepreneur, entry-level position or a CEO, employees at any level can benefit from leaning into values-based leadership—and this book shows you how!

Maria Gamb is the founder and CEO of the coaching and training company NMS Communications. She is a regular contributor to Forbes, addressing women in leadership. In addition to values-based leadership, she specializes in team collaboration and gender intelligence and communication.

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 3

Icons Used in This Book 4

Beyond the Book 4

Where to Go from Here 5

Part 1: Getting Started with Values-Based Leadership 7

Chapter 1: Welcome to the World of Values-Based Leadership 9

Walking through the Evolution of Company Culture 10

Understanding the Escalator Effect of Values-Based Leadership 11

Avoiding a Flatline to Extinction: When You Know Change Is Needed 13

Building Winning Organizations: Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch 16

Shaping the company culture with values 17

Influencing the company culture with your character 18

Chapter 2: Understanding the Evolving Workforce You Serve 21

Pinpointing the Quad Workforce 22

Picking out postwar, workaholic Boomers 24

Understanding latchkey, self-reliant GenXers 25

Meeting digitally savvy, tenacious Millennials 26

Considering the bumper generations 27

Leading the Quad with Insight and Understanding 29

Converting diversity into inclusion 29

Pivoting work ethic into work ethos 30

Recalibrating the concept of work-life balance 31

Creating meaning and a reason to go to work 32

Wondering whether the Quad cares about your leadership 33

Chapter 3: Shifting Your Consciousness beyond the Self 35

Looking at the Four Be’s of Values-Based Leadership 36

Defining the four Be’s 37

Deploying the four Be’s with clarity 37

Seeing kindness in the four Be’s 38

Fitting Values-Based Leadership into the Big Picture 42

Thinking of your company as a living thing 42

Snapping the puzzle pieces together 43

Assessing Your Command and Control Temperament 45

Following the Path Cut by Other Leadership Influencers 47

Chapter 4: Reframing Your Perception of Business 49

Unraveling the Bad Reputation of Business 50

De-villainizing mega-corporations 51

Peeking into a government-affiliated business 52

Creating opportunity as a business practice 54

Changing Lives in the Shared Values Economy 55

Evolving corporate social responsibility initiatives 55

Reinventing new profit centers to meet human needs 56

Part 2: Becoming A Values-Based Leader 59

Chapter 5: Before You Get There: Knowing Where You Are as a Leader 61

Planning Your Adventure into Different Levels of Leadership 62

Introducing the leadership trajectory 63

Exploring the four levels of leadership 64

Overstating the importance of charisma in a leader 69

Determining Where You Are on the Journey 71

Assessing your current level of leadership 72

Rating your willingness to change 74

Chapter 6: Nurturing the Four Attributes of a Values-Based Leader 77

Seeing a Snapshot of the Four Attributes 78

Embracing Self-Reflection 79

Honesty: Uncovering the cornerstone attribute 80

Authenticity: Saying and doing what you mean 82

Integrity: Doing what’s right when it’s not convenient, comfortable, or popular 84

Showing Actionable Grace 88

Humility: Embracing quiet confidence 88

Social distance: Bridging the power gap 89

Expanding Agility 91

Defining the five components of agility 91

Getting real: Unpacking your strengths and weaknesses 92

Failure: Ensuring success 93

Influencing Responsibly 95

Emulating values: Being a powerful example 96

Creating good: Taking the medical pledge to do no harm 96

Chapter 7: Activating the Grounding Principles 99

Introducing the Ten Values-Based Leadership Principles 100

Using cause and effect to shift the organization 102

Changing the value equation 103

Seeing that evolving, thriving attitudes are a result of the principles 104

Summarizing the mindset of a thriving team 106

Knowing that course correction is a values stand 107

Recognizing that resistance is part of life and evolution 108

Making It Easy for Your Team to Buy into the Leader (Yes, You) 109

Providing predictable consistency 110

Providing effective communication 112

Assembling Your Framework for Deploying the Principles 115

Meeting your employees where they are 115

Adding it up: Creating momentum 116

One size doesn’t fit all: Creating your own principle plan 117

Chapter 8: Defining Defiant Workplaces 119

Facing the Effects of the FARCE Syndrome 120

Deploying fear to get what they want 122

Developing attachment to the outcome 123

Using resistance or retaliation to control 126

Engaging in unhealthy competition 127

Displaying entitlement 129

Putting the FARCE together: The resulting halted environment 130

Evolving the Mindsets of People and Organizations 131

Traversing the seasons of change 132

Handling cycle disruptions 137

Becoming Part of the Solution — Or Exiting Stage Right 138

Giving staff a choice 138

Taking extreme ownership of the situation 139

Uncovering if it’s you or them 140

Part 3: Charting the Course and Crafting Your Values 141

Chapter 9: Lighting the Pathway to Establishing Trust 143

Surveying Ideas for Building Trust in Business 144

Defining Trust and Needs in the Workplace 145

Using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to determine baseline trust 147

Shifting from Halt to happiness 148

Getting Others to Trust in Your Leadership 149

Engendering loyalty 150

Reducing social distance gaps 150

Setting Standards for Others by Example 151

Operating with self-awareness 151

Avoiding exceptions yet remaining flexible 152

Sidestepping rumor mills and gossip hounds 153

Encouraging others as a sign of trust 154

Mastering the thank-you 154

Harnessing People Power 155

Following five engaging principles for the team 155

Unifying behind a common belief 156

Circumventing passive-aggressive personalities 156

Chapter 10: Facing the Truth about Who You Are 159

Understanding How Others View Your Company 159

Differentiating identity, culture, and reputation 160

Assessing your company’s reputation in different categories 161

Surveying groups to see whether a correction is necessary 163

Recognizing that your online reputation is a big influencer 164

Personalizing your reputation plan with FiRMS 165

Making Everyone a Trustee of the Company 168

Sharing is caring, and caring is an investment and commitment to excellence 168

Establish online guidelines 169

Embezzling isn’t the only unaligned action 171

Chapter 11: Identifying Values and Creating a Values Statement 173

Using the Self-Reflective Method for a Public Values Statement 174

Deciding whether to involve anyone else 175

Understanding and selecting values 176

Formulating and assembling your statement 181

Rolling Out Your Values Statement to Your Company 182

Animating your core values 183

Infusing personality into your statement 183

Creating clarity and direction across the board 185

For solopreneurs: Self-leadership and identifying clients 189

Chapter 12: Going It Alone When Your CEO Isn’t Interested in Values-Based Leadership 191

Accepting That the Top Brass Isn’t Interested in Values-Based Leadership 192

Guiding Your Crew When You’re Just an Officer, Not the Captain 193

Giving yourself permission to take the reins 194

Curtailing the mutiny and getting everyone back on track 194

Diagnosing the team’s hurdles 195

Courageously making your own values stand 197

Minding the gap: The space between you and the team 198

For entrepreneurs: Considering an alternate point of entry 199

Creating Your Leadership Starlight for the Team 200

Unpacking your toolkit: Using what you have to move forward 201

Assembling your starlight 203

Bolstering Your Commitment to Values-Based Leadership with Other Features 206

Scaling down the four features of values-based leadership 207

Leveling with your team 208

Holding your team accountable even if others don’t 209

Leading when you’re gone 210

Chapter 13: Cementing a Career Starlight for the Long Haul 211

Building Your Career Starlight from the Ground Up 212

Digging into your strengths and weaknesses (with a little help) 212

Breaking down the parts of your career starlight formula 213

Defining your leadership engagement qualities 215

Putting your career starlight into a cohesive form 216

Translating Your Career Starlight into a Good Fit with a Company 217

Evaluating job offers with your career starlight 218

Discerning your leader-to-leader fit 219

Pulling back the mask of a narcissist 220

Seeing the Effects of Being Known as a Values-Based Leader 220

Adding financial value to a company because of your reputation 222

Reinforcing what you stand for to add marketability 222

Part 4: Supercharging Your Team and the Workplace With Values 225

Chapter 14: Hiring and Retaining Great Talent 227

Recognizing Why People Leave One Company to Join Another (Like Yours) 228

Distinguishing Yourself from the Competition 229

Selling who you are to potential employees 230

Uncorking your reputational capital 232

Benefiting Everyone with Nontraditional Perks 234

Instituting time to volunteer 235

Offering voluntary solutions 236

Providing financial education 236

Demanding balance and flexibility 237

Craving the Opportunity to Learn 238

Establishing cross-generational coaching 239

Rotating jobs and experiences 240

Offering skills retraining 241

Working toward Compatibility Triumphs 241

Managing personalities versus maintaining company culture 242

Ensuring a good job fit based on talents 243

Showing respect and value to candidates 245

Answering the question of why someone should work for your company 246

Chapter 15: Maintaining Engagement and Job Satisfaction 249

Grasping the Importance of Engagement and Job Satisfaction 249

Staying Active and Happy: Engagement 250

Understanding that revolving doors cost a pretty penny 251

Creating an environment of engagement from day one 252

Avoiding the disengagement of current staff 253

Keeping the Wisdom Pool Full: Job Satisfaction 255

Rethinking the annual performance review 255

Assessing job satisfaction with a customizable survey 257

Compatibility: Piecing together employees, skills, and managers 259

Voting on job satisfaction five ways 260

Correlating job satisfaction with morale, learning, and growth 263

Chapter 16: Motivating the Masses 265

Peeking into the Human Motivation Theory 266

Looking, listening, and categorizing 267

Understanding that fear motivates more than anything else 271

Deciphering the money motivation myth 272

Helping People Find Their Meaning and Purpose Again 274

Chunking it down: Bite-sizing purpose and meaning 274

Helping a team find its footing 276

Practicing and Reinforcing Motivation 277

Creating an environment where people can fail but learn from it 278

Playing with pickup sticks: You can always find a solution 278

Pulling it all together 279

Chapter 17: Slicing the Pie: Creating a Culture of Leadership 283

Recognizing That Leadership Is a Job for All Staff Members 283

Setting high expectations 284

Overcoming elitism with input and inclusion 284

Developing a culture of leadership for sustained impact 285

Following leadership demographic trends 286

Identifying the Leaders in the Field Who Can Help Your Organization 287

Breaking down three tiers of leaders 288

Tapping into a winning formula 291

Empowering potential leaders to assess their own values 291

Chapter 18: Fostering an Environment of Innovation 295

Beginning with a Few Basics on Innovation 296

Revealing unconscious and conscious intellects 297

Comparing traditional and innovative business mindsets 298

Deploying “shades of gray” thinking 299

Exercising your unconscious intellect 301

Dovetailing the basics into an HR strategy 302

Igniting Innovation with a Few Principles and Pointers 302

Setting ground rules with five agreements to foster innovation 303

Reducing control, increasing trust 304

Keeping it fresh by rotating contributors 305

Challenging your team members to look beyond themselves 305

Recognizing that people won’t necessarily embrace change or growth 306

Chapter 19: Being Willing to Let People Go 307

Asking Questions and Showing Acceptance When People Leave 308

Playing the “what if” game of possibilities 308

Conducting a more detailed kind of exit auditing 309

Practicing forgiveness and acceptance 310

Staying True to Your Values 311

Rebalancing your efforts 311

Locating your fellow travelers 312

Part 5: The Part of Tens 315

Chapter 20: Ten Practices to Stay on Track as a Values-Based Leader 317

Setting a Daily Audit Practice 318

Embracing Meditation 318

Finding Your Own Spiritual Practice 319

Disengaging Your Ego 320

Forgiving Your Shortfalls 320

Eliminating the Things That Cause Brain Fog 321

Raising Endorphins to Gain Clarity and Reduce Stress 322

Using Technology to Prompt Excellence 322

Establishing a Trusted Feedback Group 322

Engaging a Mentor 323

Chapter 21: Ten Tips for Staying Connected with Your Team 325

Making Time to Get to Know Everyone 326

Acknowledging Life Accomplishments 326

Keeping an Open Dialogue 327

Communicating Expectations with Clarity 327

Saying “Thank You” Often 328

Maintaining Promises, Inside and Out 328

Keeping Your Door Open 329

Surveying the Vendor and Resource Base Often 329

Showing Transparency 330

Modeling Best Practices 331

Chapter 22: Ten Facts about the Millennial Market, Its Values, and Its Influence 333

Millennials Are Powering Different Aspects of the Economy 334

Emerging Leaders Have Heart 334

Coaching Takes Center Stage 335

Work Cultures Are Collaborative and Connected 335

Flexibility Takes on Heightened Importance 336

Making a Difference Matters 336

Old-School Values Make a Comeback 336

Buyers Vote at the Checkout Counter 337

Millennials Resist Mass Media Traps 337

A Career Should Have Multiple Experiences 338

Chapter 23: Ten Workplace Myths 339

Women Primarily Leave Their Jobs to Have Families 339

Men Aren’t as Interested in Work-Life Balance 340

Flexibility Means Shorter Hours 341

Everyone Knows How to Advance Their Careers 341

Decision-Makers Know the Key Talent 342

Conflict-Resolution Training Is Passé 342

Technology Takes Care of Communication 343

You Have to Build a Fortress to Stake Your Claim 343

Managers Don’t Need to Coach Their Teams 344

Understanding Motives Isn’t Necessary 345

Index 347

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