Today in a posting on About HR, Susan Heathfield, a managment consultant, expounds on how one should walk your talk as it applies to encouraging change and continuous improvement in the workplace.
Susan has some good ideas–model the behavior you want, follow the rules, be a part of the team, help others achieve their goals, do what you say you are going to do, hold strategy and communication meetings and ask senior managers to police themselves—all good stuff. Mom and Apple Pie.
Yet, something is missing. I am sure that the upper, non-ethics based management at H-P believes in all this. Yet,—
I am also sure that the CEO’s who benefit from the me-me-me-me stock options awards, believe in all this. Yet—-
I am also sure that every noteworthy and famous person who is in the public eye but who has had a very visible,embarrassing fall, like Hugh (she’sahooker?) Grant or Bill Clinton, also believed in all this. Yet—
I am left wondering if it is so simple, so dependent on rules, RULES, why do we keep seeing leaders who do not walk THEIR talk. Why don’t they just follow the rules, stupid.  There must be something more.
In thinking back over my career, the leaders who have consistently ‘walked their talk’ in every area of their life, have been exceptionally humble and modest. “Walking their talk” never actually occurs to them–it is a natural thing. Even the phrase seems contrived, made up.  We should be talking about character-based leadership, instead.
 So, can we teach leaders to do this? I am not so sure.
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There will always be an ongoing debate on whether leaders are made or born and I suspect your question about can leaders be taught to walk the talk falls under the same category.
I think the real question is do you have time to find out if someone can be taught to walk the talk? Whether you report to one of these “non-walkers” or one reports to you, you need to ask yourself if you are willing to invest the time in them. It might be worth it. My experience has been to keep moving fast, either people get it or they don’t, and if they don’t they have to get off the bus (I think James Champy coined this metaphor).
Take time to teach people basic skills to do their job. But soft stuff like honesty, ethics, etc., is more in the dna and is probably learned over time through experience (probably the hard way by those who don’t walk the talk).
Now excuse me, while I go figure out a way to call in sick to work today…:)