One CEO was unsettled recently when he discovered that several members of his sales force were “cutting corners.” In an effort to boost their sales numbers, they weren’t always fully disclosing costs or how fees were calculated. As the old song says, “That spells Trouble with a capital T.”
This leader was angry and confused because he has always portrayed his company as one of integrity and fair dealing. How, he wondered, could such a practice emerge in his company? “It goes against what we stand for,” he told me.
Except that it didn’t, really. Operating in a highly competitive environment, the company managers have pushed sales representatives to the breaking point. The message that the company managers were sending their sale force was not “sell with integrity,” but “make your sales quota at all costs.”
The CEO portrays his company in an ethical manner, but the business pressures in the organization have pushed managers to adopt a very different outlook. This is a disconnect between leadership and management — and clearly showed this CEO that he has a lot of work to do, quickly.
The business environment of the last decade has pushed tolerance for such corporate lapses to near zero. Companies that don’t establish and follow clear values stand to loose more than just a disgruntled client; they risk loosing stature and competitive positioning in their marketplace.
I am usually a proponent of keeping things simple. While each company must come to its own organizational values, here are 5 examples to consider.
Truth builds trust. Even as this seems self-evident, organizations that seek to establish a trusting relationship with their customers can’t fudge this one.
Responsibility builds respect. Whether you take responsibility internally within your organization or externally with a client, showing an ability to accept and manage your responsibilities engenders good faith.
Accountability builds autonomy. In today’s virtual world of work, the ability to be accountable for both wins and losses, to accurately report progress in a timely manner and to follow up, leads to an increase in autonomy in your work.
Integrity builds independence. The way to build true independence in your work is to show integrity. The is where the CEO went astray - assigning independence to managers and sales representatives before integrity was instilled.
Learning builds longevity. Whether in life or in work, research shows that those who continue to actively learn and develop intellectual capacities are both more satisfied with their lives, and live longer. If your organization provides a learning environment, this motivational driver will keep them connected to you longer.
This leader was angry and confused because he has always portrayed his company as one of integrity and fair dealing. How, he wondered, could such a practice emerge in his company? “It goes against what we stand for,” he told me.
Except that it didn’t, really. Operating in a highly competitive environment, the company managers have pushed sales representatives to the breaking point. The message that the company managers were sending their sale force was not “sell with integrity,” but “make your sales quota at all costs.”
The CEO portrays his company in an ethical manner, but the business pressures in the organization have pushed managers to adopt a very different outlook. This is a disconnect between leadership and management — and clearly showed this CEO that he has a lot of work to do, quickly.
The business environment of the last decade has pushed tolerance for such corporate lapses to near zero. Companies that don’t establish and follow clear values stand to loose more than just a disgruntled client; they risk loosing stature and competitive positioning in their marketplace.
I am usually a proponent of keeping things simple. While each company must come to its own organizational values, here are 5 examples to consider.
Truth builds trust. Even as this seems self-evident, organizations that seek to establish a trusting relationship with their customers can’t fudge this one.
Responsibility builds respect. Whether you take responsibility internally within your organization or externally with a client, showing an ability to accept and manage your responsibilities engenders good faith.
Accountability builds autonomy. In today’s virtual world of work, the ability to be accountable for both wins and losses, to accurately report progress in a timely manner and to follow up, leads to an increase in autonomy in your work.
Integrity builds independence. The way to build true independence in your work is to show integrity. The is where the CEO went astray - assigning independence to managers and sales representatives before integrity was instilled.
Learning builds longevity. Whether in life or in work, research shows that those who continue to actively learn and develop intellectual capacities are both more satisfied with their lives, and live longer. If your organization provides a learning environment, this motivational driver will keep them connected to you longer.
When you accept a leadership position, it is part of your responsibility to not only model the values you believe, but to ensure that the other folks in your organization adopt them as well.
Building culture is a top-down process, and it is an active one. The CEO in the story did not fail because he held the wrong values. He failed because he was not actively engaged in the work of promoting them.
So, critical question: if you find such a misalignment of values and behaviors, what do you do?
Get active. Own your responsibility for being part of the problem as a leader who did not attend well enough to the organization’s alignment with desired values.
Don’t blame others; often such misalignments are simply due to what the management environment is directing.
Have the conversations with your team about how behavior is not aligning with values. Give them the opportunity to recover. However, if someone doesn’t realign, it is essential that you take action. Allowing the misalignment to continue after you intervene will only reinforce the wrong cultural values.
Now, I’ve saved a big idea for last. At this time of year, thousands of kids are graduating from school and college and making their way in the world. Whether you think of it this way or not, parenting is a leadership position. Much of your work as a parent has probably focused on instilling values in your kids.
But, before they go, get active one more time — have one more conversation. It’s time to tell them it is their turn to pass it on.
hi ASK Pak Deh, there was a case that prudential misselling investment link product to one of the minister's wife. The agent said that: "you save your money with prudential, then prudential will give insurance to you for free". Few years later, the Datin noted that, cash value in the account is lesser than premium paid. She compliant to her husband and husband brought this issue into Parliament. It's happened long time ago. Perhaps year 2000.
ReplyDeleteDid you heard about this case?
Would appreciated if you could tell me more details regarding this case.
Dear Felix Loke - regret to inform you that I am not aware of this unfortunate case. Bank Negara, LIAM and Insurers have over the years - achieved significant milestones in reducing mis-selling and weeding out rouge agents from the life insurance industry. Unfortunately a small number of rouge agents still remains amongst us. Policyholders who are victim of mis-selling could complain to Bank Negara, LIAM and/or Insurer directly. Bank Negara views mis-sellling seriously and takes immediate action to protect policyholder.
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