Page 151 - Just Promoted A 12 Month Road Map for Success in Your New Leadership Role

136 Just Promoted!

ACTING CONSISTENTLY: DEVELOPING GOOD
PUBLIC RELATIONS FOR YOUR POSITIONS
As your direction and priorities become clearer, how you communicate and
how you act as a leader become increasingly important. Seemingly well-
conceived platforms and great visions have failed not because of their con-
tent but because of the way they were communicated. Effect should match
intent. People have a desire and a right to expect consistency between word
and deed. A governor of a western state was recently elected based on a well-
articulated vision of that state’s future, but within weeks of his election a
firestorm of opposition arose because his administration’s public remarks
during his early days in office seemed inconsistent with his election platform.
People felt betrayed.
People look for and trust consistency between what is done and what is
said. If your vision includes the desire to share organizational power and con-
trol in the interest of the overall good, your actions must match the vision. It
is not uncommon to find a 25 percent or greater gap between what top man-
agers say about quality and how their employees see those words in terms of
action and commitment. Inevitably, employees will become cynical if words
and actions are not consistent.
On the other hand, John F. Kennedy’s inspired challenge “Ask not what
your country can do for you but what you can do for your country” developed
an expectation that leadership would invite citizen involvement and greater
empowerment in a vision of America’s “New Frontier.” Kennedy started highly
visible, idealistic programs such as the Peace Corps and VISTA to help real-
ize this vision, and such actions made him appear consistent, believable, and
able to energize the loyalty and commitment of millions of people. Barack
Obama’s campaign for the presidency of the United States was built on a vision
of large-scale change of many policies, practices, and even institutions. The
campaign was successful largely because of Obama’s ability to articulate and
convince his supporters that this was a worthy and wise course to follow.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
Consider the following questions as you plan your vision, purpose, and direc-
tion. Writing your answers will help you incorporate them into your overall
first-year plan of action.