8/8/2019 Values - Part 2, Chapter 4 - From John Starling's AMA Baltimore Presentation

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Values(Continued – Values-based Meeting Management)

Off-the-Wall Conversations

It’s Monday morning at the ofce and one of these two scenes has the possibility of unfolding:

1) “The Hard Way”: The members of management roll in, stroll in or sneak in past the big plaque

on the wall in the foyer stating the company’s Values. Some individuals are on time, some are late, some

are on their time, because that’s how they have it. Some head straight to their desks, some to the coffee

some to the bathroom. Eventually they settle into their chairs, maybe they surf the Web for a few minutes

or study their calendar. They think about the things they didn’t get done last week, the things they haveto do this week, what that means for this coming weekend’s plans. They wonder what their peers wil

say this morning, because their report is overdue, unnished, incomplete, or half-assed. Then the thought

occurs that it might not be a big deal. A few managers always come in late on Mondays during footbal

season if their team played the late game. Problem solved. “I probably have until 10 a.m. to get caugh

up. I’ll crank it out now and be ready for our weekly meeting at 11 with time to spare.” Perfect.

2) “The Easy Way”: At the time we’ve all agreed

upon, in our case it’s 9 a.m., we’re all seated in the

conference room for our weekly management team

meeting. Over the course of the next two hours we’ll

cover all of the company’s performance in varying

degrees of detail: sales, marketing, operations, nance

and human resources. But before we begin, we talk 

about the previous week and more specically, we talk 

about what we did last week and who we were being in

regard to our collective Core Values. As a company we

went through a facilitated process whereby we came to

a consensus on Values we all share, that we all feel would move the organization forward if we were

all to work every day to uphold these Values.

For the rst 30 minutes of the meeting we get right with our Values. If in the previous week we had a

major fall-down on one of the Core Values, we acknowledge it, because we know it had an impact on

everyone.

Smith Growth Partners - Mill Centre Penthouse - 3000 Chestnut Ave - Baltimore MD 21211 - (410) 235-7004

www.SmithGrowthPartners.com

8/8/2019 Values - Part 2, Chapter 4 - From John Starling's AMA Baltimore Presentation

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We put our word to something: a follow-up call to a prospect that would be made by Friday; a campaign

that would launch on Wednesday; a feedback session with a new employee. And these things didn’

happen. We are out of integrity with the Values that we as a group identied as being essential to

completing our Mission every day and the fulllment of the Mission that we’ve articulated for ourselves—

so we acknowledge it, clean it up with the people it affected and recommit to simply doing what we said

we were going to do.

In this same meeting we have an amazing opportunity to acknowledge each other for holding up theValues which we all agreed we should operate from. If “Persistence” is a Core Value of the organization

and one of the team members has, in the past, shown a strong “ight mechanism” (ght or ight when

faced with adversity) around a particular role or task and then overcame it—that’s remarkable. Let’s say

he or she doesn’t like to have conversations about money with clients, and recently this person showed

exceptional persistence and got a signature on a contract: remark upon it! When these two things happen

that we acknowledge our own fall-downs and acknowledge each other’s integrity regarding the collective

Values of the organization, our Values come off the wall (plaque) and live in our organization, powering

it to complete its Mission every day and to fulll its Vision.

 

John Patrick Starling is the Managing Partner of Smith Growth Partners and authorof an emerging collection of short articles entitled “This is Our Practice” – Growth

Strategy Kata for Growing Companies.

Enjoy this article, share it with your friends and colleagues and feel free to

contact John directly for facilitation of any of the exercises included in this collection.

Smith Growth Partners - Mill Centre Penthouse - 3000 Chestnut Ave - Baltimore MD 21211 - (410) 235-7004

www.SmithGrowthPartners.com

Ground Rules for Values-based Meeting Management:

You’ll notice that the rst example above, “The Hard Way” is much shorter (only 1 paragraph) as compared to

“The Easy Way,” which is 3 paragraphs. The Hard Way is shorter, because there is no integrity in it, which will

invariably make it very hard (if possible at all) to complete our Mission on a daily basis and eventually fulll

our Vision for the organization. Imagine a blimp trying to get from New York to Los Angeles with a bunch of 

holes in it. A blimp with holes in it has no structural integrity. An organization not living its own self-dened

Core Values on a daily basis (though they look good on the wall plaque) has no structural integrity either.

The Easy Way is harder work. It’s hard to have integrity every day. It’s uncomfortable to own up to the fact

that we said we were going to do something and then didn’t do it. But it’s freeing to acknowledge it to the people we affect through our lack of integrity, to recommit and then to keep our word.

This practice is about empowerment. Our practice may seem odd for “corporate America” but if you are really

committed to growing your organization you need to honor the words on the plaque by bringing them into your 

meetings and daily life and having off-the-wall conversations.