Are you managing or are you leading?

Dr Tareq Rasheed
International Consultant and Trainer

Do you inspire your team members at work and your family members at home to become the best version of themselves? Value-based leaders ignite the potential of others.

The main strategic difference between management and leadership is that management is result and goal-oriented, while leadership is human and value-oriented. Once leaders are committed to values, they become role models who accelerate their followers’ performance and achievement.

What is Values-Based Leadership?

Values-Based Leadership (VBL) forms the base for leaders to motivate, engage and empower others in their workplaces, families and communities. Such leaders draw on their own and followers’ values for direction, inspiration and motivation. Studies have proven that a values-based approach can significantly impact performance.

What are values?

Values consist of beliefs and assumptions about how things should be or how people should behave. Our values guide our behaviours and decision-making, which is why we must consider how we lead our families, organisations and companies. The foundation of values is built on three pillars:

•Principles — guiding rules that constitute our inner beliefs and serve as our compass in personal and professional spheres

•References — the first reference of values is parents and then schooling. Because of this, Napoleon Bonaparte, the first emperor of France, said his famous quote: “Give me an educated mother, I shall promise you the birth of a civilised, educated nation.” Elementary school students in Japan, Singapore and Finland are taught ethics in the curriculum and are well known as top-performing countries. Leaders in these countries have recognised the importance of focusing on values and applying Value-Based Leadership. Some values are universal, such as fairness, while others depend on culture or society. Values can be specific to a field of speciality or industry; for example, loyalty and duty may be values highly regarded in military service, while empathy and compassion are fundamental to healthcare. 

•Attitudes — once values are set and taught, they should be reflected in people’s attitudes. Just notice how babies tend to act like their parents because they learn by mirroring. Look at elementary schools where students reflect in their attitudes what has been gained from their teachers. Then, society starts reflecting these values in each field of speciality Value-Based leadership is the first and most important tool for society. Failure to achieve a set of values in the corporate world leads to business failure if values are merely words in a strategic plan and do not transfer to attitudes and practices

VBL in action

Let’s look at the medical and health sectors, where one of the highly needed values is care. Imagine two hospitals that have announced the value of care in their strategic plan and on their websites. When a patient goes to the first hospital, she is happy to read on the screen that care is their value. This value is reflected in everyone’s attitude, from janitors to nurses and doctors, and even post-care and follow-up. Thus, business sustainability is maintained through the transformation of values into actions and attitudes among all employees, underlying the importance of VBL.

The other hospital has the same written value of care, but the patient enters the hospital faced with dirty floors, careless employees and aggressive attitudes from the nurses and doctors. The result is failure, for sure. Although both hospitals have the same written value, one succeeds while the other fails to transform a written value into action.

Values are the secret for any organisation, company, community or individual to sustain results and achieve business continuity. 

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine