I love college sports. I love
the pageantry, the effort on the part of the student athletes, and the way it
can unify both a college and a community. What I don’t like is when things “come
off the rails” in terms of scandals, misconduct, and controversies caused,
often at the hands of those coaches and staff charged with keeping the program
on the right course. This is clearly a failure of leadership and has me
thinking out loud if the individuals responsible for this malfeasance even have
a moral threshold in the first place!
Just in case you don’t follow
college sport news, in the past few weeks two major athletic programs have had
allegations made against them by the NCAA in terms of specific violations. The
University of Mississippi’s football program has been cited for academic fraud,
inappropriate booster involvement, and certain players receiving special
benefits not allowed under NCAA rules. At the University of Louisville, there
have been allegations that the director of basketball operations knew of
strippers and prostitutes being present during times when prospective recruits were
hosted on campus. In each case, the head coaches and athletic directors have
disavowed any direct knowledge of the incidents.
I guess the question for me is
how accurate are pronouncements? Granted, they may not have known about the
first incident, but patterns of repeated behaviors are hard to hide. In this
day of social media and smart phones that allow the instant sharing of
information, events, etc., secrets are almost a thing of the past. It still
amazes me how a politician, celebrity, or sports star thinks that their words
and deeds will not eventually become public! They are either just that arrogant
or just that clueless.
But back to the point of this
week’s blog. If you are leader, YOU
set the moral threshold. You may not like it or it may be inconvenient
for you to believe it. Too bad! Your words, actions, statements, etc. set the culture
of your team, school, business, organization, etc. If you follow this blog, you
have often seen me quote author and consultant, Dr. Henry Cloud who states, “Cultures
are created by what we ALLOW and by what we CREATE!” So, if something happens
and/or if you do not like what you are seeing, that is a YOU and YOU deal. In
the final analysis regarding the two recent news stories I referenced above, it
was the head coaches job to set the moral threshold of their team for BOTH
their staff and players. Even better, it was their supervisor’s responsibility
to do so. Even still, the ultimate responsibility rests on the President of the
institution. I have had the pleasure to work for several great college
and university presidents and I knew full well their expectations of me as a
junior to more senior staff member and I ACTED accordingly versus to the contrary.
So back to my blog title, do
YOU even have a moral threshold? Have you ever thought about what is and is not
appropriate conduct among those involved in your enterprise? If not, why not?
If so, great, but does EVERYONE know what your expectations are? Here’s the
thing, I am sure that you are a leader of integrity that holds yourself to high
standards on a consistent basis but it cannot end there. You can’t just assume
that your down line team members are as well. They may be in some areas but not
in others. As in the examples provided above, I bet in certain segments of
their lives, those responsible for facilitating such misconduct are normally
decent people. But sometimes values and priorities come into competition with
each other. For instance, the value of integrity with the priority of
recruiting/retaining the best class of players possible.
It is EXACTLY those times when
such priorities collide that your team members know WHAT WINS! In other words, let’s
assume you constantly communicate to your team the importance of doing business
ethically but all of a sudden one of your team members has the opportunity to
make sale of such proportions that it would change the trajectory of your
enterprise, however, it would require a bending of those principals, what wins?
Do they know what to choose (or what the threshold is) AND that they would be
rewarded for doing so? That’s a tough call but it can be made easier if you
would CONSIDER, RECORD, and then SHARE the following:
- What are YOUR moral and ethical “non-negotiables” or absolutes?
- In the gray areas (where, unfortunately, most issues and situations reside!), what values and principals “win out” among ALL others? In other words, what should everyone in the organization DEFAULT to in light of tough choices?
- How will team be assured they will not be censured or punished for making the tough calls that align with your organization values?
- How WILL you CONTINUALLY communicate what is important for EVERYONE, EVERY DAY, and ALL THE TIME in terms of your moral threshold?
One more thing to consider. As
a leader, you have a responsibility to set the moral threshold but you
also have the obligation to involve others in the discussion. You can
always have veto power but as the old leadership maxim goes, people support
what they help create!
As always if I can help you and the
people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would
invite you to email me or to visit my website below and see if any of the
training or coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact! In fact, I am
launching a new SPEAK FOR IMPACT
training program that will help both novice and experienced leaders find their platform and increase
their communication skills! Also, as a bonus, if you go to my Out Loud
Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your contact information, I will
send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring initiative program in your
organization! Such an initiative would be critical to add value to your
organization!
Yours in Leadership,
Bill Faulkner
Principal Consultant –
Out Loud Strategies
Independent Coach,
Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team TM
Email = bill@outloudinc.com
For more information on
the John Maxwell Team, please visit
No comments:
Post a Comment