Living the Relational Framework Daily

As Cindy and I built the “FRAMEWORK for Applying The Values Advantage”, a comprehensive program designed to guidance organizations through the process of putting their core values into practice at every level, we wanted to be sure that it provided practical steps for defining and implementing specific behaviors that would be applied daily. My goal in detailing a structure for leveraging leadership growth is no different. Living the relational framework daily will be THE factor that determines how much strength we each gain from each of our professional relationships.

With close to fifteen years involved in behavior-based safety, the lessons I can pull from that experience today are countless. I’ve referenced the power of habits a few times leading up to this point, but here’s where our habits make or break the framework we’re working to build. Implementing a new practice, or even making slight changes to an existing one, can be incredibly hard to sustain - especially when we’re attempting to keep all the plates involved with leading a team spinning. Even initial behavioral change is tough; sustaining that change rarely happens without some sort of support (and that’s exactly why we built our Strategic Leadership Coaching model).

To get the results you’re truly capable of, and to have the positive impact the teams depending on you deserve, daily application of the action steps you’ve identified through our time together here is crucial. Daily practice solidifies relational leadership, but it’s also key in moving from certified to genuinely qualified. Sticking with each new practice over time, especially with dozens of other urgent demands on your time on any given day, will require realizing your own worth; someone else’s emergency doesn’t always need to become our priority. As the flight attendants go through the safety instructions before take off, they stress that we need to put our own oxygen mask on first before attempting to help anyone else. When we value ourselves enough to prioritize our own growth, we’ll be more equipped to develop others.

Maintaining these practices over the long haul won’t happen, though, unless we place real value on others and consistently make ourselves available. As we do this daily, with complete humility, we earn the kind of influence that allows us to lead without the slightest bit of authority. And, over time, that maximizes our return on investment in relationships.

Each practice we’ve worked through here can certainly stand alone. But when we stack one upon another, we’re intentionally leveraging leadership growth - for ourselves and for each person we interact with. That said, sporadic effort won’t get the job done. My final challenge for you, as you work to draw as much strength from your professional relationships as I’ve gotten from mine, is to commit to applying one of your action steps daily until it becomes as natural as breathing. Then do the same for another, and another, until you’ve built a framework for relational leadership that’s absolutely unshakable!