VisionValuesandStandards .mp3 - powered by Happy Scribe

You're listening to the Mental Notes podcast. In this episode, our founder, Scott Dow, explains the psychological process people engage in before they choose to follow your lead.

Leadership and international travel have a similar dynamic, and the most basic principle of leadership is prehistoric. It's Neanderthal. It's full on caveman or cavewoman.

Let me explain. So right now, there are three things you need before you can take an international flight. You need a plane ticket, you need a passport, you need a COVID test.

You present your ticket passport and COVID test to the ticket agent, and then the ticket agent determines if you're suitable for travel. Leadership is the same way. There are three things you need to present to employees then your employees determine if you're suitable to lead.

You need to share your vision, you need to share your values, and you need to share your standards.

Now, this is where the caveman comes in. Humans are born with a natural survival instinct. Self preservation is always top of mind. And this started to be hardwired into us during prehistoric times.

All cavemen weren't created equal. Some cavemen were leaders and some were followers. The caveman that followed the right leaders, they live longer and they pass their genes down to us.

So the decision to follow someone, to see them control, to follow their direction, to let them lead, man, it's not taken lightly. In fact, it's a heritable psychological process refined and improve through thousands of years of evolution. It's how we determine if someone is safe to follow. That's why your vision, values, and standards are so important. These are the things that your people instinctively and subconsciously need to answer before they agree or choose to follow you.

Think of it this way. Three things people are trying to figure out about you. First, people need to know what you're trying to do. They want to know if you're headed some place worth following. The vision you share explains where you're headed.

Then people need to know what's important to you. That tells people not just what you like, but what you are like, what you're like as a person, what you're like as a boss. The values you share explain what's important to you.

Finally, people need to know what good performance looks like. They want to know what they're accountable for and if they're going to be up for the task. And the standard you share explain how you're going to judge them, how they'll be judged.

Now, one of the biggest misconceptions leaders have is this. They think that their team's going to assume they're suitable to lead just because they've been put in charge, but they won't.

That ticket agent at the international counter, they're not going to just trust that you have a ticket, passport, and COVID test. They want to see them and inspect each for their authenticity.

Your team is no different. Sure, now somebody were up the chain, put you in charge, and that someone must trust that you have vision, values, and standards that are appropriate, but that doesn't matter. Your employees want to hear what they are from you, and they want to see your vision, values, and standards in action.

Until they do, they're going to take a cautious wait and see attitude with you as their boss. So a couple of key points. First thing is this; you need to package your vision, values, and standards into statements that are memorable. And here's why. People are going to need something to refer back to.

Second thing is this. These statements need to be clear, concise, credible, and compelling. Clear, so you avoid any misunderstanding. Concise, so they're easy to recall. Credible, so you remove all doubt. And compelling, so people are willing to buy in.

And the third and final thing is this. You need to rehearse and deliver these statements over and over again. The more you reinforce your vision, values, and standards, the better.

In the other episodes or in other episodes, we'll focus more deeply on vision, values, and standards. But for now, I want you to try something. I want you to envision yourself interviewing a candidate that you really like, visualize the setting. Maybe it's a face to face interview, or it could be one of these Zoom interviews.

Now visualize yourself sharing your vision, values, and standards. How easy do the words come out? Do you have to stop and think? Are they second nature? Are they concise, clear, credible, compelling?

The more you mentally rehearse your vision statement, the better, same with your values and your standards. Statements that are concise, clear, credible, and compelling don't come out of thin air. You have to practice. They deserve constant attention and refinement. Trust me, the more you work on them, the easier they'll come.