Closing the Gaps Between What Sounds Good and What Gets Done

What We Know

Most leaders struggle to close the gaps between the types of employee behavior they desire and the types of behavior they get. Here are three possible explanations for those gaps:

• Employees understand what they’re expected to do, but they’re unable to do it
• Employees understand what they’re expect to do, but they’re unwilling to do it
• Employees don’t understand what they’re expected to do

Contrary to what many leaders believe, the most common explanation for not getting more of the behavior they expect is because their employees do not understand what they’re expected to do.

The problem

Too many leaders seem to believe that the words and phrases contained in their mission statements, core values and other such documents adequately describe the things they expect employees to do. Those words and phrases have two things in common:

• They all sound good
• They have little or no impact on employee behavior or organizational performance

According to Jim Bearden, closing the gaps between what sounds good (mission statements, core values or core beliefs), and what gets done (employee behavior) is a key leadership role.

in this powerful workshop jim will

• Lay out 4 truths about the relationship between leadership behavior and organizational responses to challenges & changes
• Describe 6 specific steps leaders can take to get more of the behavior they expect
• Walk us through his 4-step model for expanding & enhancing employee engagement

jim's unique post-workshop component

• Jim will send each participant a series of weekly follow-up pieces focusing on key points covered in the workshop
• In those pieces he will offer additional thoughts about topics covered and suggestions to help participants translate the material covered into effective leadership behavior

Participants won’t hear any platitudes or theories, but they will leave with a better understanding of specific Leadership behavior for Closing the Gaps Between What Sounds Good & What Gets Done.