Here’s the deal as I see it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As managers we respond to problems and situations. We maintain systems and structures (sometimes at heroic levels) in our departments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When something is coming at us, we’re dealing with it the best we can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And yet, here’s the thing, staff culture – the culture in our department, is not built solely by responding and maintaining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is certainly reinforced and supported with those efforts, yet to fully create our desired culture we need proactive efforts.<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Getting a team to function well, working together, being supportive and engaged is a product of leadership<\/u><\/strong> – being out front, painting the vision of our work together and expecting our folks to come along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We can keep a department on the rails by responding and maintaining yet it is the proactive cultural leadership we bring that determines in what manner and how we travel forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cycles of dramas, disregarded systems, high turnover, excessive call outs, low morale – this is no way to go forward. It is ruinous for all involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet, where does the answer lie to these symptoms of cultural depletion and disengagement?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, I can tell you where they won’t be found. If we’re managing from the back seat so to speak, and not fully engaged with proactive culture-building efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cultural leadership means we uphold with all our might a focus on our established goals, how we are going to get there and who we are going to be together as a team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This means we must be proactively cultivating staff’s engagement, building skills, and preventing negative influences from eroding the culture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Setting reasonable expectations of behavior, getting with folks eye to eye to discuss cultural hot spots. We set the tone of how our departments are going to function. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I’ve always said, our culture is what we allow and to that I add, our emotional climate is what we provide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Caring, appreciation, engagement, and inspiration are infectious. We need to find it in ourselves and spread it around. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We’re the ones who need to remind and help staff see how incredibly cool it is to work at a co-op – It’s not “just a job” but a profound opportunity to help the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It starts with each one of us feeling and envisioning a positive culture in our own hearts and minds. Believing enough in it to bring others along with us. Yes, the proactive efforts of culture building start within us…<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let’s bring it out.<\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here’s the deal as I see it. As managers we respond to problems and situations. We maintain systems and structures (sometimes at heroic levels) in our departments. When something is coming at us, we’re dealing with it the best we can. And yet, here’s the thing, staff culture – the culture in our department, is not built solely by responding […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2341,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"\n Here's the deal as I see it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As managers we respond to problems and situations. We maintain systems and structures (sometimes at heroic levels) in our departments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When something is coming at us, we're dealing with it the best we can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And yet, here's the thing, staff culture - the culture in our department, is not built solely by responding and maintaining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is certainly reinforced and supported with those efforts, yet to fully create our desired culture we need proactive efforts.<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Getting a team to function well, working together, being supportive and engaged is a product of leadership<\/u><\/strong> - being out front, painting the vision of our work together and expecting our folks to come along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We can keep a department on the rails by responding and maintaining yet it is the proactive cultural leadership we bring that determines in what manner and how we travel forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cycles of dramas, disregarded systems, high turnover, excessive call outs, low morale - this is no way to go forward. It is ruinous for all involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet, where does the answer lie to these symptoms of cultural depletion and disengagement?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, I can tell you where they won't be found. If we're managing from the back seat so to speak, and not fully engaged with proactive culture-building efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cultural leadership means we uphold with all our might a focus on our established goals, how we are going to get there and who we are going to be together as a team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This means we must be proactively cultivating staff's engagement, building skills, and preventing negative influences from eroding the culture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Setting reasonable expectations of behavior, getting with folks eye to eye to discuss cultural hot spots. We set the tone of how our departments are going to function. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I've always said, our culture is what we allow and to that I add, our emotional climate is what we provide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Caring, appreciation, engagement, and inspiration are infectious. We need to find it in ourselves and spread it around. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We're the ones who need to remind and help staff see how incredibly cool it is to work at a co-op - It's not \"just a job\" but a profound opportunity to help the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It starts with each one of us feeling and envisioning a positive culture in our own hearts and minds. Believing enough in it to bring others along with us. Yes, the proactive efforts of culture building start within us...<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let's bring it out.<\/p>\n","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"project_category":[3],"project_tag":[],"class_list":["post-2340","project","type-project","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","project_category-m2m"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/2340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/project"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2340"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/2340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2345,"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/2340\/revisions\/2345"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"project_category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project_category?post=2340"},{"taxonomy":"project_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/merrimanmanagementsupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project_tag?post=2340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}