The Investment of Time is the Point
Daily Leadership will consume most of your time…I estimate in fact up to 80% of your time! The good news is that this gives you plenty of time to cultivate your own values and those of your team. In fact, the key component of Daily Leadership is team culture, and values play a critical role in crafting your team’s culture.
Many leaders view the constant attention required for daily leadership as a burden. Meetings, check-ins, clarifying standards, and addressing small issues can feel endless. But this rhythm is not wasted motion—it is culture in action. Every interaction is a chance to demonstrate the values that underpin your organization. When you devote time here, you are not “getting pulled away from the real work.” You are building the conditions for all the other work to succeed.
Think of it as tending a garden: it is not a one-time activity but a continuous investment. Neglect it, and weeds—miscommunication, disengagement, and conflict—grow quickly. Attend to it, and your team culture becomes fertile ground for resilience, innovation, and accountability.
VALUES as the Anchor of Culture
Leading with VALUES™ means aligning behaviors, decisions, and processes with what matters most to your organization. This alignment must be lived daily:
- Model the standard. Leaders show what “right” looks like in action.
- Communicate consistently. Clear expectations, feedback, and recognition reinforce what the team should prioritize.
- Build trust through accountability. Addressing misalignments early prevents erosion of standards.
- Celebrate small wins. Recognizing moments when the team lives the values helps embed them deeply.
Over time, VALUES become more than words on a wall—they become how the team operates under pressure, how decisions are made, and how people treat one another.
Why Time Spent Here Pays Off
Leaders often underestimate how much of their day will be consumed by these cultural touchpoints. Yet, this is not inefficiency; it is leadership. Teams that experience strong values-based leadership display higher engagement, stronger collaboration, and greater adaptability. The very habits formed during daily leadership prepare the team to thrive when shifting to strategy or facing crises.
Final Thought
If you find yourself devoting much of your day to reinforcing values, that is a good sign. It means you are not leaving culture to chance. Mastering Daily Leadership: Leading with VALUES™ is about embracing the daily discipline of leadership, knowing that this investment builds the foundation upon which the other two components of The Leader Triad, Strategic Leadership: Leading with Vision and Crisis Leadership: Leading with Valor can stand.
