After many months of thinking about reorganizing a company, you start to role out your plan to your top lieutenants.

After the warm reception from your first conversation, you figure the next couple will be equally as easy.  Considering that each of these folks are getting a promotion (including more money… not just a title), you start to feel proud of yourself.

Then BAM!  A train wreck occurs.

During your next conversation with a star employee, she tells you sorry, I am not interested in the position that you are offering.  She’s not hostile.  Just very direct.  She also hints that if she is ‘forced’ to take the new role, she will leave the company.  She knows that you know that the company would take a hit if she leaves the company.

What do you do?

Well here are a couple things to take into consideration.

a)  There is never a ‘kept secret’ in any company.  If you let her have her way (regardless of how you rationalize it to yourself), it will get around to the rest of the workforce.  Guess who the new leader is now?

b)   Consider where YOU went wrong in the assessment.  How did you get to this place where you misread her needs?  Maybe you don’t understand what her values are?  Maybe you thought money and power were important to her… maybe she is actually happy with the type of sanctification (or flexibility) that her current work provides her.

c)  Remember no one person is bigger than the company.  Let her go.  I still remember this little story after leaving my first job for a promotion within the company.

A superior of mine that I had the greatest respect for stood and gave a small speech at my going away party.  I had worked with this individual for over five years and learned a great deal from him.  I thought that I had made it look good (and I was happy to do it) during my tenure at the location.  This is what he said… ‘Michael has been a great asset for our business during the last five years.  He has grown and developed as a leader.  With that being said, after two weeks, it will be like Michael was never on our plant site.’

I was floored.  I was sad.  I almost dropped my drink.  The people around me weren’t.  I felt terrible.  I approached him towards the end of the night after I was able to gain enough courage and asked him why he said what he said.  He smiled and told me that it was a compliment.

I could not figure out how that was a compliment until he explained.  He said ‘Michael, usually when I stand up here and give this speech, I tell people it usually takes only TWO DAYS before it was like the person was never here before.  Whereas for you, it will probably be two weeks.’

He then continued to tell me that the place was going to continue to satisfy customers because of systems that I had put in place and because of the people that remained.

This was the greatest lesson that I ever learned in my career. Think of this way, if the company truly failed after you left, you may have been a great task master, but you were not a great leader or developer of people.

As previously mentioned, we have assessments that help you understand what your values are.  Remember that values are the reasons why you do the thing you do.

For example, some people may grow roses to sell them whereas other people grow them for the beautification of their garden.  Two different values - utilitarian (money) and aesthetics (beauty).

Sometimes a client will ask - ‘Can will my values change over time?’

My answer to this is:  NO.

To be honest, I still have a hard time believing this answer.

But my own data proved me wrong.  Here is some background into my story.

Over the last ten years, I have taken this Values assessment a total of five times.  I do it about every other year (secretly hoping that it would change.)  During these past ten years, I have had three kids, worked in four different jobs, moved two times, had a parent die, completed an executive MBA, and oh yeah - had cancer.

So, I figured that there would be some sort of change in my values.  Personally, I thought that my values would shift more to a ‘family’ basis given all of the turmoil that I have been through in the last ten years.  It did not happen.  There was no statistically significant difference in the results.

Now, I guess one could say that the assessment is somehow flawed.  It does not actually measure what it should measure.  Well, considering that the results that I have received are dead nuts on and have been for the last ten years.  I can’t really say that is the case.

In addition, I have had many close people to me validate the results.  They say - Yes that is you.

I am certain that every rule has its exception.  But I am not that exception.

You need to understand what your values (and what your employee’s values) are so that you can put the right plans in place to develop yourself and develop them.  Knowing their values will give you some hints on how to motivate these people.

Interested in a Value’s Assessment?  Drop me an email at michael (at) informedleaders (dot) com