Leadership Principles are the biggest single determinant of success in an organization. Their value cannot be overstated. However, crafting them correctly and implementing them appropriately requires some thought and planning. Here are some key aspects to keep in mind when undertaking the development of leadership principles. By the time your company is 20 or more employees you will have already developed a culture, and it is important to be intentional about this culture and identify the good while de-emphasizing the undesirable behaviors. The culture that is fostered by these leadership principles is akin to everyone rowing in the same direction on a white-water rafting adventure – and that’s what your business is an adventure together.
Leadership Principles are about behavior; behavior that models and embodies your values. It is important to make them behavior based because that is what is most visible, what can be corrected, and where you can start the conversation. If they are just values, they cannot be disagreed with or evaluated because they are in someone’s mind and heart – which we do not have access to, we can only observe people’s behaviors.
Leadership principles are to be used in the hiring process, evaluation process, and in regular conversations. You are giving your organization language to hold each other accountable by. In the hiring process you will have questions to test for each of the leadership principles. In the annual review peers will be able to rate you on your leadership principles – which one you exhibit and which one you need to work on. Your teams will also praise and challenge each other with these leadership principles. Someone might say: “Well that was very customer obsessed of you.” Or “Thank you for your bias for action in that situation…”
You can look at leadership principles from Amazon, Nike, Google and other companies to get inspiration and see how they are written. Here are a few key aspects to keep in mind as you are crafting them.
- Have a title as well as an explanation – this allows you to name it easily in conversation and allows you to explain what it means. Take for example: “Are right a lot,” from Amazon. It’s easy to refer to it by the name “Are Right a Lot,” but it is not straight forward what it means. You must read the description to understand how you become right a lot. Specifically, because you exercise good judgement, you seek council, and you try to prove yourself wrong. Without the description one might take the principle and use it as a bully and beating others up with their superiority of idea.
- They are few and can grow over time. – Don’t think that you have to come up with ten or more all at once. Start with two or three key leadership principles and add more over time. The first three principles from Amazon, for example, are the oldest and most important. If you pressed Jeff he would point to these three: “Customer Obsession,” “Ownership,” and “Invent and Simplify.” And if you limited him to one principle he would pick “Customer Obsession,” as the most important principle. So start with a few and add more over time.
- Keep them behavior based – not values or aspiration based. Behaviors are easy to observe, can be separated from the humans themselves, and can be trained. Intentions, values, and aspirations are more nebulous, more internal, and more closely tied to the person’s own internal worth. If you had “Trust” for example as a leadership principle it would be hard to tell someone you don’t exhibit trust. “How do I not exhibit trust,” would be the immediate next question. If you keep it about behaviors, you know which behaviors you encourage and which you want to see in your organization.
There are other aspects that you will want to keep in mind when crafting and implementing Leadership Principles in your company’s processes. If you want to learn more about crafting leadership principles, rolling out leadership principles or just want someone to review what you’ve come up with please schedule a time with us to start that conversation.
