The extra mile
What does it really mean to walk the talk?
Friday, December 16 2011 || Talking the Walk || BY Fiona Rotherham
You may not have heard of Mark Witchalls. He and wife Shelly are co-owners of Blenheim Foods Marlborough and they earn a decent living making mussel and paua frozen patties for fish and chip shops nationally. He hit the limelight two years ago by winning the Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) Trust’s annual Walk the Talk award for creating a workplace that offers opportunities for disabled people.
He’s justifiably proud of the honour, but what does walk the talk mean?
Aristotle’s followers are said to have discussed philosophy while traversing the sun-baked paths of ancient Greece. In other words, walking the talk.
Then there’s the old maxim, ‘if you’re going to talk the talk, you’ve got to walk the walk’ — to do what you say you’re going to do rather than unproductively brag about it. It’s similar in meaning to ‘actions speak louder than words’ or ‘talk is cheap’.
‘Walk it like you talk it’ and more recently ‘walk the talk’ have gradually become the abridged versions of the original saying. That has subtly altered the meaning of leading by example or ‘practice what you preach’.
Even more recently ‘walk and talk’ is an expression for a story telling device commonly used in US television dramas where the main character rushes around dishing out orders to various underlings. The aim is to make them look busy and important although they’re not actually doing much. Remind you of anyone?
At a recent Auckland event, high profile Kiwi businessman Ralph Norris talked about how he had effected a cultural turnaround in companies he had led. He said to deliver workplace change, leaders had to walk the talk — to act the way they wanted others to follow.
In my experience, it’s more common for bosses to want workers to do one thing while they surreptitiously enjoy their privileged position to do another.
A 2007 study by Auckland University’s Excelerator on authentic leadership in New Zealand was also critical of our corporate bosses. It found New Zealand leaders were unlikely to encourage and acknowledge differing viewpoints, had low self awareness and were resistant to change. They respected data more than the opinions of their workforce.
EEO Trust CEO and awards judge Philippa Reed says in the EEO’s case Walk the Talk is aimed at leaders who go the extra step for others in the workplace — and it may not necessarily be a CEO the judges look for. What winners of this award had in common was an ability to inspire others as well as modelling behaviour others followed.
“Often they create change in the culture of the places where they work,” she says. “Often it is accompanied by a more unassuming nature than you might see in someone under the old command and control style of leadership.”
In Witchalls’s case he became concerned about work opportunities for disabled people after his daughter, Emily, was diagnosed with autism. So he set out to provide jobs for some himself. When he bought Blenheim Foods he threw out all the machinery and replaced it with people.
He employed clients of Workbridge, an employment service for people with all kinds of disabilities. He simplified production methods and communication styles to get the best out of his handful of staff, who were often previously long term unemployed.
His walking the talk has paid off. Since he bought the business a decade ago turnover has increased by 25% and staff turnover and absenteeism — previously big problems — are particularly low. The average is one sick day per worker per year and that’s after Witchalls has ordered them to stay home.
The key reason he won the award was because he’s more than a boss who leads by example, he’s also an advocate for his disabled staff when dealing with the bureaucrats that provide funding and other support to them.
“When you spend some time with these people you develop a high degree of trust. If things go wrong or break you have to have an instant response to fix any danger to them. You really get involved. It makes you protective of people who aren’t protected themselves by normal motivations, particularly financial,” he says.
In Witchalls’s view, he’s not being generous without getting a return. That extra mile was worth the walk.
