Today’s guest post is once again from Certified Go-Giver Coach, successful entrepreneur, and creator of the Manifast Business Success System™, Doug Wagner. Here, he shows us exactly how a business can tap into authenticity; the type that helps everyone to shine, individually and as a team.
Enjoy Doug’s wisdom! – Bob Burg
I see two common mistakes in businesses. At the extremes they are:
- Ignore It: They ignore mission, values and culture and then wonder why customers get a different vibe or message from every employee, or …
- Control It: They try to create clones or robots by telling people exactly how to dress, behave and interact with customers stamping out any variation and therefore any chance to truly connect with clients.
This leaves employees with a sense of loss; the loss of their humanity and connection with their authentic self.
As a business owner or entrepreneur you should care because connecting these things to your business will lead to a stronger bottom line.
The biggest mistake people make in understanding authenticity is assuming that how you behave is your authentic-self shining through.
Part of what shines through are attitude, habits and learned behaviours… not authentic self.
The Shining can be a horror movie or it can be beautiful and productive.
The good news is you can work on improving attitude, habits and behaviours.
These are the walls that are often holding the real authentic-self back.
As a business owner you may have a lot of people working for you.
So how do you manage all of this authenticity?
Focus on the Core
When teaching from our Manifast Business Success System™ we tell our clients to define three key components proactively:
- Mission
- Core Values
- Culture
Mission is a very short statement about what value you create for your clients and how it impacts the world.
Core values are those things you value above all others in your business or how things are done here. They can include ethics but also attitude and behaviour.
Your culture is a picture (or story) about what it is like to work in your organization and what it is like to interact with your organization as a client or other stake holder.
You hire for fit on your Core. You fire for violation or mismatch of your Core.
Now that you have people on board who are share or believe in your Core you can let them be authentic.
I don’t mean pretend authentic. I mean let their inner humanity come through.
Actually, initially you might even need to encourage it to come through.
Most people have put up walls over the years. Or they have put on a fake veneer for their professional life.
Isn’t all this authenticity running around wild dangerous?
Not if you have a solid Core.
Not if you communicate, train, systematize and otherwise reinforce that Core.
The Core provides the guidance that keeps everyone focused on the same objective; the rules of the game if you will… the rules they believe in and share.
The Law of Authenticity from the book The Go-Giver states:
“The most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself.”
The Magic of Scaling Authenticity
Your employees will be more in touch with and sharing their own authentic selves.
This will make them feel more human at work.
People are craving more humanity and connection.
Your employee AND clients are people.
Your clients will connect with your business more strongly because they are dealing with authentic humans who have a passion for what they do.
Your clients are happier. The business makes more money. Your employees are happy. You are happy.
No losers.
And it scales.
Just ask Zappos, Southwest Airlines or its Canadian cousin, WestJet.
How is your business embracing the Law of Authenticity? Share your thoughts below.
Excellent post Doug. We all need to not just read, but implement these best practice guidelines to Scaling Authenticity…Thanks
Thanks Don! You are quite correct, reading only provide the foundation you can build on, you need to implement to get the actual benefits.
Great post Doug. I really like empowering your employees to be authentic as well. It goes a long way toward creating a team, not just a job.
Engaging the three core values you outline is a terrific approach. Appreciate the perspective and insights it provides. Great post.
Thanks Barbara. I think most people are craving something more than a job, even if they pretend otherwise with statements like “I work to live, not live to work”.
Thanks Bill. I’ve learned a lot from your genius about how this all translates into your Brand.
Doug, really enjoyed your post. If an organization lives by their mission and core values, their culture will be self-defined. That’s where the authenticity gets validated. Good stuff here.
Thanks Gary, glad you enjoyed it.