Once upon a time I had lunch with a CEO who wanted to reinforce the importance of taking a lunch break to his executive team.

Over time it had become more and more common for these leaders to grab a quick bite at their desk or skip lunch altogether and he felt it was important they prioritized shutting their laptops for a few minutes each day to refresh their minds and feed their bodies.

I asked him what he was going to do about it and instead of saying he was going to mandate lunch breaks and punish anyone who didn’t take them he simply offered this: I need to make sure I am taking lunch breaks so they see that it’s okay to do it too.

It was such a poignant reminder that people give more weight to what they see you do than to what they hear you say. 

Tell them to take a lunch but never do it yourself and you quietly kill your credibility.

His simple insight that modeling desired behaviors beats crafting the perfect policy and incentives is something we can all learn from.

The next time you want your team to act a certain way, make sure you are modeling the behavior first.

My free PDF, “The 5 Secrets of Impossibly Effective Teams,” will show you the simple leadership moves that help teams unlock their full potential and deliver outsized results, without burning out. Grab your copy now at geoffwelch.com/secrets