Page 209 - Appreciative Leadership
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182 Appreciative Leadership
out how to deliver on the promise you made. Good ideas fl y around
the room, people commit to working overtime, and one person even
offers to hand-deliver the order if needed. Your team pulls together.
Your customer gets what she needs when she needs it. You and your
team feel pride in a job well done and gain self-respect.
Make agreements based on what is important to you, and keep
them. The saying “A man is only as good as his word” applies to
women as well. When you say you will do something, you are putting
your identity on the line. Your identity, your integrity, and your self-
respect all grow from keeping your word.
Be Relationally Responsible
Finally, when anything changes about what is important to you, or in
your ability to do what you said you would do, immediately talk about
it with the other people who are involved. The following story shows
how one group of military leaders consciously chose to demonstrate
relational responsibility:
Military protocol requires that enlisted personnel salute offi -
cers. A naval base commander noticed during his daily walk
on a heavily trafficked pathway that many enlisted person-
nel were disregarding this protocol. The commander called
his junior officers together to ask their opinions about how
to address the situation. They came up with three options:
(1) they could publicly “dress down” the enlisted personnel
on the spot every time it happened; (2) they could ignore the
breach of protocol; or (3) the officers could initiate the salute.
They chose the last option. The next day the offi cers made a
point to salute approaching enlisted personnel on the walk-
way. They received surprised looks and instant return salutes.
In a matter of days, protocol was restored.