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How You Spend Your Time Demonstrates Your
True Values
Do the leaders in your organization tend to say one
thing, yet do another? When their actions are
inconsistent with their words, it is difficult to
know their true values.
On a flight back from Ottawa, Ontario, to Raleigh,
NC, I had an eye-opening experience about this
concept. I was sitting in the aisle seat, the middle
seat was empty, and a man was sitting in the window
seat. We had our tray tables down and were both
working diligently on the papers in front of us.
Then I did something you’ve probably done
yourself. I let my eyes stray to his pile of papers
just for a second. Of course, at exactly that time,
he happened to look up at me, and I quickly snapped
my head back to my own work. A few minutes later, he
did exactly the same thing and got
“caught” himself. Then, almost in unison,
we asked each other, “What’s that
you’re working on?”
At the time, I was involved in strategic quality
planning and was reviewing my notes for an upcoming
conference presentation. He, as it turns out, was a
consultant who worked with senior leaders from
Fortune 500 companies that were undergoing change. We
decided to put away our work, fold up our tray
tables, and enjoy a productive conversation for the
remainder of the trip.
First, I shared some of the approaches to change
that were successful in my organization. Then I asked
how he worked with his clients to help them implement
meaningful change. Here is how he explained it to
me:
“Well, usually my clients bring me into a
mahogany and brass boardroom, with all the
‘grand poobahs’ sitting around the table.
Then they say something that amounts more or less to,
‘Oh, please tell us what to do, oh enlightened
sage!’”
“What do you do then?” I asked
him.
“I go over to the most senior executive in
the room, borrow his or her day planner, open up to
any date at random, and read what it says. Of course,
the executive is a little confused, and asks what
I’m doing. I tell him that I’m trying to
find the time on his calendar where he personally
taught a class on the new initiative, met with
customers, or ate lunch with the ‘little
people’ in the cafeteria. ‘Oh,
that!’ he would answer, ‘Let me get on
the phone and I’ll get my senior associate
executive assistant vice president for quality, and
he can help you!’ This tells me everything I
need to know about the organization’s level of
management involvement.”
While this may be an isolated case, we all know
that this kind of approach to change rarely works.
Although we don’t really expect the senior
executive of the group to do all the legwork in
implementing change, at some point delegation ceases
to be delegation and becomes
abdication—abdication of the leader’s
responsibility to lead by example. And when this
happens, everyone in the organization easily
recognizes it, and the results can be difficult to
overcome.
In business, as in life, when things are
important, we need to find time or make time to do
them. If you want to determine the true values of
your organization, study the behaviors of your
leaders. Watch where they spend their time and
you’ll come to a very definite and clear
conclusion about where they stand.
A nationally recognized customer service
expert, author, and trainer, RON
ROSENBERG, CSP, recently founded
Drive-You-Nuts.com, a Web site dedicated to helping
people get the service they deserve and to teaching
companies how to provide it. He has been featured in
publications including The New York
Times, Smart Money, and Real Simple
and has appeared as a guest on nationally
syndicated radio shows including “Dateline
Washington” and the “Gary Nolan
Show.” For more information, visit his Web site
at www.drive-you-nuts.com
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