“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Mahatma Gandhi
On a recent anniversary, my husband and I found ourselves back where we started our Sydney life ten years ago, along the beachfront in Manly. We were heading for a restaurant we used to go to when we noticed that it didn’t look so inviting anymore. When you have a strip of restaurants side by side, there’s no escaping which ones are doing well and which ones aren’t. The one in the middle had atmosphere oozing out of its doors, tables spilling out onto the pavement and a long patient queue at the door. Little things like heaters, music and relaxed happy staff seemed to be making all the difference.
While waiting for a table, I wondered why the neighbouring, and empty, restaurants weren’t changing their formula to attract more customers? Why stick with something that clearly wasn’t working?
Often in my work with teams, there is a sense of disempowerment and disillusionment amongst individuals around their influencing powers when discussing culture. They don’t feel they play a part in creating and sustaining the culture they want – it’s almost as if they’re expecting it to be ‘done’ from the top down only.
However, if a culture is a collective set of attitudes, beliefs and values, then every individual’s mindset and behaviour counts. But each individual needs to know this. If you don’t feel that you are fully responsible for reinforcing the culture that you’re choosing to be part of, then the end result of your impact to that culture will be ineffectual.
To further enhance your desired culture, think about:
– What culture are your new recruits seeing from across the pavement?
– What contribution does your team feel they make to the team and organisational culture?
– How often do you ask others for their input and do you make it count? How fluid or rigid is the culture? “It’s just the way things we do things here” doesn’t cut it anymore as an explanation.
It may also be worth asking yourself and your team what do you need to do or change to be that warm and welcoming restaurant turning over tables three times in one evening alone. What would that look like and what specific part would every individual play?