Page 22 - Fearless Leadership

What It Means to Be a Fearless Leader 9

Behavior Drives Results

Business results are in direct proportion to how people work together.
When leaders are not aligned and employees are not engaged, even the
most brilliant business strategy will not succeed. How people behave and
relate to the organization, coworkers, and leaders determines what is
achieved. Unproductive behavior takes up your time, frustrates everyone
in its path, and prevents the company from achieving its goals.

Nothing works when people are not working together.

You cannot change how people behave with mandates, slogans, or pro-
grams-of-the-month. No amount of cajoling, persuading, or threatening
will alter what people do. People will continue to behave in the same way;
they will just take it underground where you cannot see it. The grapevine
is the strongest communication network in companies that do not have
an open and safe environment.
A culture of accountability is the hallmark of world-class organizations.
These companies place a significant emphasis on how to maximize the
value and contributions of people. They are distinguished by their unre-
lenting drive to create an environment in which people can perform
at their best. Take a look at the top 10 attributes of the world’s most
successful companies shown below. As you read the list, identify which
features apply to your organization and which attributes you need
to develop.
You may clearly see the need for engaging and aligning people, but you
may be looking for change in all the wrong places. Misdiagnosing people
issues leads to (1) costly and ineffective business solutions—process and
system changes—that do not resolve the underlying issues, and (2) an
inconsistent leadership approach that lacks standardization and uniformity
about how people are expected to behave.
Let’s return to the question, “What is holding leaders and organizations
back?” Transformation begins when leaders choose to change their behav-
ior. The frequently misunderstood barrier to change is behavioral blind
spots—automatic and unproductive behavior that blocks leadership effec-
tiveness, organizational change, and business results.