May

Every now and then I’m drawn to some phrase that just seems to fit precisely with some challenge that I’m wrestling with----usually in concert with some consulting work I’m doing---as I’m trying to find just the right words to move a group conversation to a higher level.

Larry Winget is known as the Pit-Bull of Personal Development and is the author of several books and blogs, and is a prominent speaker. He is known for “telling it like it is”. Larry Winget’s words seemed to hit the mark this week as I wrestled with how do I get right to the heart of the matter with a group of women (who are assigned to the same work group and who can’t seem to get-along). They are a group of people who feign niceness, while undermining the other; who promise cooperation, collaboration and attention to deadlines in their words, yet whose behavior tells a different story.

These are the right words:

• Do what you said you were going to do, when you said you were going to do it, exactly in the way you said you were going to do it.

• Deliver what you said you would deliver, precisely when you said you would deliver it, and in the way you said you would deliver it.

• Call when you said you would call. Follow-up when you said you would follow-up.

Are these not the principles that underscore “Integrity” and “Trust”?

How is it that so many of our workplaces and work-groups seem to have gone mushy….no longer expecting these basic competencies…to act with honor and character? Why are so many of our leaders (unlike Larry Winget) so timid to

“tell it like it is” and to command honesty and follow-through from their employees?

Tom Peters, co-author of In Search of Excellence said it best: “There is no such thing as a minor lapse in integrity.”