A colleague was recently telling me about her experience potty training her young son.

"I can't believe I actually told my husband he needs to start keeping the door open when he goes to the bathroom! We are both modest people, so we naturally keep the door shut when we are in there. It dawned on me the other day that my son probably has no idea what the toilet is for!?

While I can't completely relate to this (Bekah tried urinated like daddy once and it was a disaster), I can say, I see her point.

This is true at the office too. If we want our employees to behave a certain way, we must lead by example. If you want your employees to have a healthy work / life balance, don't work until 8 pm every night. Conversely, if you want your team to go above and beyond, don?t spend long lunch hours on the golf course. Don't speak poorly of other staff or departments, if you want your staff to get along well with others. If you want your staff to own up to their mistakes, you will need to be the first to apologize when something goes wrong.

I love the bumper sticker 'Lord, please let me the person my dog thinks I am'. Once I had children, my mantra became, 'Lord, please help me be the person I want my children to be'. The same can be said at the office. Be the person you want your staff to be.