It's Tuesday at 2:00pm! (PST Time: I live and work from Southern California)
Greetings to you!
Each week I send out a short leadership blog that's called "Tuesday at 2:00pm". The purpose of this is simply to provide a brief thought on leadership that you can read and think about in just a few minutes. I send it out every week at 2:00pm (PST) and encourage you to make an appointment with yourself to pause and think about the thing I'm writing about.
Russ...
LEADERSHIP QUOTE:
"If you want to change the culture, you will have to start by changing the organization.” Mary Douglas
What does this stir up? Either write me HERE or comment at the end of the blog post HERE.
A LITTLE BIT DEEPER:
Last week I introduced some conversation around CULTURE and I shared Peter Drucker quote HERE.
Today I’m sharing this quote from Mary Douglas, a British anthropologist, and her quote is just profound. I’m sharing this again so you understand how powerful culture is!
Look at this list: Red Flags of a Bad Company Culture
You don’t have a list of core values
There’s a lot of gossip in the office
Unfriendly employee competition
Employees are often tardy or absent
Employees often work late or don’t take lunch breaks
No workplace giving initiatives
Little or no hiring from within
Public criticism of employees
Do you resonate with any of these?
I love that first one… “you don’t have a list of core values”. This is a huge red flag. What’s worse? Having values and your team and leader don’t live them out!
Culture affects everything and it’s not something you can just FIX. The quote is right… you have to rebuild the organization around the culture you are trying to eliminate or the culture you’re trying to grow.
Have you ever worked in a place that had a TOXIC CULTURE? What was that like for you?
DEEPER STILL:
Last week I shared about a “culture” experience I had at El Refugio in Ecuador.
As I think about it, I’ve worked within organizations that have had a healthy culture and an unhealthy culture. I needed to see and experience that unhealthy culture at an early age so I knew what I didn’t want to be a part of.
One of my first jobs was a short stint at a fast-food restaurant. I really took the job because I was in college, I needed some cash and I liked the options of eating at work!
I started work, did about an hour of training, and they put me right to work.
A week into the job, they had a crazy “rush” experience at the restaurant, and they moved me into an area I hadn’t been trained for. It was total chaos, and at the end of the night, the manager just yelled at me for not being able to do all that was needed. I told him that I hadn’t been trained to do that job, and he ended up docking my salary, demoting me, and embarrassing me in front of the other employees.
That leadership led to my shortest stint in the fast food industry, and I happily quit and moved towards other jobs where I was trained, coached, encouraged and challenged.
I look back on that experience and I’m grateful for it. I experienced something that was really valuable, and I hope in my leadership roles over the years that I’ve never made someone feel the way that store manager made me feel.
Can you identify some things that are CULTURALLY IMPORTANT to you? Do these things exist in the organization you’re currently a part of?
This is the best product if you’re using charts and poster board. Post-It has this great cover-up tape. Check it out HERE
This is the best product if you’re using charts and poster board. Post-It has this great cover-up tape. Check it out HERE
Alan Weisenberger with EnLumens recommended this book on organizational culture: The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle.
We just purchased this pair of Owls to live in our garden to try to scare off the bunnies, the squirrels and now the woodpecker! Not sure if it will work, but they’re entertaining!
I watched this film that I missed on a recent flight. I enjoyed this story of Ferrari.