Dear Friends,
Many years ago, I walked into my favorite coffee shop where the Director of Operations was a dear friend. As we exchanged warm greetings and asked about each other’s work, she said with a smile that work was “stupid crazy”, with arms in motion to indicate chaos.
If you’ve been a newsletter reader for long or have recently heard me speak, you might think that I cringed at her comment. In reality, I was encouraged by it. From her smile, you could tell that, though busy, they were a healthy and thriving organization. When work is fun and you are part of a team paddling in the same direction, “stupid crazy” isn’t so bad. During seasons of growth, chaos is to be expected. The healthy organization welcomes it and works through it together coming out stronger and more unified as a result. (Note: I don’t recommend “stupid crazy” as a long-term mode of operation. That would make me cringe. So, if that’s your organization then you might want to call us to see if we can help you stabilize. 😉)
In a more recent conversation with a client, we were discussing how to move their company into a more consistent state of operations, essentially shifting their current culture. Here are my raw notes from that conversation:
- You can’t expect to say something once and have it be internalized. It must be said, read, and demonstrated repeatedly.
- You can’t expect to design a process/tool, do/use it once, and expect it to become a habit. It must be done/used repeatedly. (And people held accountable to doing/using it every time.)
- Culture and habit have a lot in common.
- Repetition creates culture, both individual and corporate.
Repetition creates culture.
That observation really resonated with my client and me. If it resonates with you too, here are some questions to consider: What does your organization repeatedly do? Do those actions result in the desired culture? (Do you even know what you want your desired culture to be?) What should your organization start/stop doing to get the desired results? You might answer those questions by considering what causes you or the organization frustration or even failure.
I’m not a culture expert but I am a keen observer of it. What I mostly see is that attention to culture is greatly neglected which results in a rather unhealthy one. Neglected culture leads to turnover and decreased productivity among other things. I have some ideas but certainly not all the answers on a topic like this. If, like me, you’d like to explore this topic more, then join us for the April 10th Express Training. I have invited an experienced group of panelists with different perspectives to share their insights on workplace culture. We still won’t have all the answers for your specific situation but hope to bring awareness to its importance and start the conversation.
May you have blessings, balance and most of all, peace,
Janet
In loving memory of my dear friend from the coffee shop
who always had a smile to share.