A630.3.3.RB- A Day in the Life of the Culture Committee

“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country” bolsters JFK in his famous inauguration speech… but this is a leadership blog for organizational development so let’s do a new take on this famous quote. “Ask not what your organization can do for you; ask what you can do for your organization.” Hmm… I think we need to put that thought down, flip it and reverse it because this may not be the case if you ask the Southwest Airlines Culture Committee when hosting Hokey Days. What is a hokey, you ask? From what can be ascertained, a hokey is a device on a pole that cleans up the carpeted interior of an airplane. As the SWA planes queued to the terminal the Culture Committee rushed eagerly through the corridor to meet the crew of flight attendants. This can be seen by checking out the video made by SWA and found on YouTube, “A Day in the Life of the Culture Committee”.

Southwest Airlines is becoming commonly known for great viral videos of funny flight attendants doing cheeky safety announcements, but what impact does a video highlighting the Culture Committee have on their organization and what is the purpose of the Culture Committee? According to the video the intention behind meeting each plane that comes in from nine in the morning to six in the evening is to assist with job duties, such as plane clean up and provide food, in addition to goodie bags for both the flight attendant crew and pilots. It is all about one employee group showing appreciation to another employee group. Emblazoned on the shirts of the Culture Committee is the SWA mission statement of a warrior spirit, a servant’s heart and a fun-loving attitude so that you can do “whatever it takes”. Part of what plays into their mission statement is the day to day requirements of keeping up a great personality, having a smile on your face and Hokey Days is a reward to say that your efforts are appreciated and recognized with a goal to keep the employee’s happy and with the company.

Clearly the cultural environment of SWA is one that embraces fun, but I wonder how effective an event like Hokey Days is in establishing those cultural norms? In my opinion this is a great idea. However, as Trey, a SWA employee who wears two hats, one of the Culture Committee and the other as a flight attendant points out, this is not well known amongst the flight attendants. I think this is a wonderful small step toward a larger goal, but I would call to question if Hokey Days was itself a norm. I would like to see this event actualized on a larger scale not just at the Los Angeles Airport but also at the smaller airports, too. I think once this event became well known, it would not only be a great surprise to experience the first time they were able to host this event, but the recognition of knowing what it is would make even more of an impact to be able to experience it., perhaps a second or third time in the future.

I would love to see a Culture Committee form at my employer, ERAU. While I feel we already have a great culture as an organization, I know my department has its own quirks and personality where we do things for each other above and beyond our organization’s culture as a whole. One example is having your desk decorated by your colleagues for your birthday. I love doing this, it is so much fun and everyone knows my motto is that I want it to look like your desk threw up birthday. Nothing says you care more than a really crape papered desk. I think appreciation is always important, so I would like to see more of a celebration of efforts actualized. Our department holds end of the year events where leadership comes to speak to us as a group. We are treated to food all day long and our office for the day is the top floor of a hotel overlooking the beach. It is a gorgeous event and a relaxing, yet recharging for our group. On a smaller scale, I would love to see an event held on our department’s floor, where the daily operations take place. It would be a joy if top leadership would walk around and get a chance to see our desks and cubies (my affectionate name for my cubicle) and meet us on a more personal basis. If I am putting in requests, which it seems I am, I want Ernie to come to see us too so we can take pictures with our University’s mascot. What a great way to internalize the identity of our organization!

Learning more about Southwest’s culture made me realize that actions or inactions are significant identifiers of corporate culture. Some companies think or say that they have a strong, positive corporate culture, but action speaks louder than words. Doing something to show someone you care can be an uplifting way to say thank you for doing your best at our organization regardless of how big or small the gesture. It doesn’t have to be the traditional ideal of time off or bonuses, but something simple and silly to say, you are great, let’s have some fun! I know that I really like to be appreciated, so this would mean a lot to me and would make me want to continue doing as much for my company as I am able. In a way it seems like it would be a no brainer, but treat people the way you would like to be treated. This mantra is not just for people, it is for the people who form organizations, too. I wonder if corporate culture in companies increased in all organizations, if this way of life would spread throughout our society when we are outside of work, too. I bet it would. At the very least, I think that company would end up being more successful than it was previously.  I believe such a thing is measurable and can be tracked, so why not give it a whirl? The worst you can do is end up having a great organization that amazing, talented people are beating down the door to be a part of… okay that is not so bad after all! It has always been my personal outlook that you get back what you put out into the world. Positivity attracts positivity, so put some great things out there and see what you return is, it could end up being better than previously imagined. 

Reference: Southwest Airlines (2008) The Day in the Life of the Culture Committee - YouTube. Retrieved August 31, 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7P0T9IbYKU&feature=player_embedded  

A630.2.4.RB- 21st Century Enlightenment

The philosophical movement of the 18th century emphasized the use of reason to scrutinize previously accepted doctrines and traditions which brought changes to modernize values, norms and lifestyles. I feel as though Matthew Taylor’s piece was named 21st Century Enlightenment because as we have progressed forward there is a need to keep seeking enlightenment. Taylor stated in his video that “we need to live differently, to do so we need to think differently”.

Change your thoughts, change the world. This reminds me of “if you want something you have never had, you have to do something you have never done.” If you keep approaching each situation the same way, the results will be the same. To see change you have to change something and everything we do stems from our thinking. Thoughts become words, words become actions and habitually that shapes character. Your thoughts resonate in what you do and who you are. Matthew Taylor believes this is “the result of us responding automatically to the world around us rather than the outcome of conscious decision making” (Taylor, n.d., n.p.). Instead of reacting perhaps we can train ourselves to slow down and reflect so that we have the opportunity to think differently.

During the video, Taylor brings up another point which is “to resist our tendencies to make right or true that which is merely familiar and wrong or false that which is only strange". I have noticed this practice more than I care to mention. On a more laughable scale, this is the story of Sam I Am and his green eggs and ham. He did not want to try green eggs and ham, he did not think he would like it; perhaps they were just as unfamiliar to him as they would be to us. But alas, he tried it and he liked it. We cling to what we know, perhaps as a protective mechanism. I see election signs starting to take up real estate in yards throughout the community ushering support for selected candidates. I often wonder if those candidates are winning on their merit or their name recognition. I imagine seeing a name on the ballot and a fair number of people selecting that which is familiar to them because time and care was not taken to have a different basis for choosing.

An example of this that I experienced is when I went to college in Mississippi. It was a place that was unfamiliar to where I grew up and culturally quite different. I saw a lot of close-minded fear for people who lived differently like in the gay community, but also for people of a different ethnic background. This made me feel deeply because they felt anyone not like them was wrong. I happened to fit into their cookie cutter mold of being okay, but that made no difference to me. I didn’t want for me to just be okay. What about everyone else? I remember making friends and going to that person’s family event. I loved Pepsi at the time and was enthusiastic to drink a Pepsi with my southern cooked meal. I was met with outrage that I was drinking Pepsi, a company that supported gay rights. I was also told I should not support Disney for the same reason because they hosted Gay Pride events. This angered me and made me feel that they were wrong. They saw something different and thought it was wrong. I saw something different in them and thought that they were wrong. It was a two sided coin, quite a conundrum, and no one was really right at all. How can we love and respect each other if we cannot see beyond our differences?

Taylor argues that our society should eschew elements of pop culture that degrade people and that we should spend more time looking into what develops empathetic citizens. This is a world I would like to live in. While I think it is possible, I am not certain it is probable, at least in my lifetime. I fear that the immediate cultural climate is one of labels, money and personal gain. My impression of our culture is one that competes to be the best or the most at something, regardless of how noteworthy or honorable, and puts down anyone below first. It is quite sad when you see people on Instagram trying to be the first person to comment and claim being first, which spawns fights in the comment section. There surely must be a better use of time. While I think learning self expression is quite important I wonder if this act stops short of true introspection where proclamations are more about “I” and not enough about “us” or “we”. I am not sure where the entitlement comes from, but to degrade someone is to treat them with disrespect. I do not want to sound like my grandparents used to sound to me when I was younger, but I feel that manners have been thrown out the window. Each social convention that we become more lax with is another step toward the normalization of deviance from a polite society.

One of my favorite musical artists is Taylor Swift. By all accounts she is said to be a kind, nice woman. I have never seen her swinging in her underwear on a wrecking ball and her lyrics are not crude, but rather empowering to march to your own beat and be the best you. She has managed success and popularity despite forgoing the degradation of others and is still attacked frequently. Just recently her new video for “Shake It Off” was attacked for elements of racism. While I am not an authority on this subject, I feel there are much clearer cut, dire examples that perhaps should be examined first. Even seemingly innocent elements of pop culture, such as this video which was meant to celebrate dance, are subject to being sullied in the muddy waters of degrading each other and what someone stands for, even if it is correct or not. Ironically this is the motivation for the song itself, that anyone can say anything about you and you have a choice to let that bring you down or you can shake it off. I feel that we as a society are too busy analyzing others to put them down instead of gaining understanding in something that is a step in the right direction of empathetic pop culture.

At the end of the video, Matthew Taylor talks about atomizing people from collaborative environments and the destructive effect on their growth. His implication in this comment speaks to the collaborative nature of humans. I think true progress in seeking enlightenment will only be possible together. Not everyone has the same strengths or perspectives. By allowing people to come together, you take a sampling of the best of what we have to offer in a way that can build each other up. I think within an organization and within society this will always be essential to our progress and survival. No man is an island, I am certainly not. I cannot figure out this world or this life on my own. We need each other the lean on.

 I feel that something immediate I can take from this exercise would be that we each have the power to choose our thoughts. We can all cultivate the ability to examine with both breadth and depth the implications of our thoughts. Instead of readily dismissing something that is unfamiliar or that we do not understand, we can pull at it like taffy until we have unraveled a better understanding of the situation. We make decisions in our personal lives but also inside of our organizations. Problems and obscure information can come at you at any time. The question is have you prepared yourself to be ready not to jump to conclusions?

This makes me wonder how we can start encouraging a society that informs ourselves and is empathetic towards each other. How can we prepare ourselves that with the examination of our thoughts to gain understanding that this does not give us the right to be judgmental to each other? How can we eliminate labeling unnecessary parts of our lives with being the first or best in a category that is not something to be proud of at all? Perhaps we should be concerned about being the first to help someone else or being the most kind or thoughtful. How can we teach others to think critically without being critical?

Reference:

Taylor, M. (n.d.). RSA Animate - 21st Century Enlightenment - YouTube. YouTube. Retrieved August 24, 2013, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC7ANGMy0yo&feature=youtu.be

A630.1.4.RB- Board of Directors

If you are like most people that are part of the daily grind, you wake up in the morning to go to work. It might be just a simple day like any other. If your phone does not serve as your alarm clock, it is likely you will check it as you head to the bathroom and brush your teeth. You will make some coffee or even get some on the way to the office; get in your car and head to work. What if a phone that also has the capacity of a computer was never created- a one stop shop for connectivity? Some say the world would be better off; others cannot live without that multitasking lifeline. What if someone said the water that flows into your home, which is often taken for granted, that enables you to easily brush your teeth was a ridiculous, impossible idea? Can you imagine if someone challenged the way coffee used to be made (however that was) prior to the invention of a coffee pot or Keurig machine? To take that a step further, what if someone said no one would stop to pay for coffee when it could be made at home cheaper? And the automobile… there was someone that probably said that a metal box on wheels is the craziest death contraption they could imagine. For better or for worse there were organizations along the way filled with a full spectrum of individuals that were bound together as a collective to bring us into a new era.

It is said that no two individuals are alike and that we are all unique and important because of our differences. If we lived in a society of sameness, what would that be like? After all, variety is the spice of life. The same is true of the DNA of an organization; it requires a healthy mixture of power players, visionaries, pragmatists, the crowd and yes, even the pessimist. Exploring the changing organizations of the twenty-first century companies are evolving and have become focused on being faster and maintain quality in addition to being smaller and involving the employees to focus on the customers of their organization. (Brown, 2011) To achieve organizational survival, I would argue that a diversely rich composition of varying attitudes and outlooks bound together through organizational culture are required to bring meaning and innovation.

To explain this further, I watched a video that can be found on YouTube, A Tale of Power and Vision, a simple video with a thought provoking message about types of people and how they handle obstacles. A pessimist and pragmatist encounter two cliffs labeled the present and the future with a deep divide separating one side from the other with no bridge provided. The pessimist says it cannot be done, sits down and gives up. The pragmatist being unambitious looks at the situation, almost embarks on a journey and sits down with the pessimist. Good luck, it cannot be done. Power and vision run by with stick figure smiles on their faces and vision becomes the human bridge and power crosses it. Once across, power calls the crowd and the pragmatist and pessimist follow suit. Vision is helped up and everyone has arrived together into the future, some still in disbelief.

So what does that mean? It means that everyone has a purpose even if you cannot see it. I have worked in many different organizations and have yet to encounter the right ingredients to see real change occur. I have the utmost confidence I am where I need to be right now to see that happen, I just have to stay tuned long enough. Change is imminent so when that call to action arises I will be sitting in the front row if not ready to help make it happen myself. To explore what is necessary and helpful about each organizational agent, if we are going off of sweeping generalities, it is clear what certain agents do like the power player and the visionary. The power player is the doer, the mover and the shaker. While the optimist and the pessimist argues about how filled the glass is, the opportunistic power player is drinking it. Power players make it happen. Visionaries see ideas that would be full of wonder to experience without boundaries and limits. It is a blessing sometimes to not know that other people think it cannot be done. Together the dreamer and doer really spark a fire. The crowd is important because you need supporters to carry out the journey with you. The pragmatist and the pessimist are just as essential, in moderation, of course. The pragmatist is the anchor that keeps the dreamers and power players from floating away. The pessimist can be that challenging voice that makes you dig deep and do it anyway. They remind you exactly what it is that they think cannot be done. I found a picture quote online that said, “If the visionary created the airplane did the pessimist create the parachute?” A healthy dose of fear and practicality keeps everyone in check, together they can flourish as one within an organization.

With a calculated and encouraging blend of the characteristics of organizational development, planned change to improve can be achieved and performance enhanced. All organizational agents can approach change collaboratively, while allowing opportunity for each agent’s human potential. The relationships among the elements align and through checks and balances of the scientific method, success can be a practical experience. (Brown, 2011)
 

Reference: Brown, D. R. (2011). An Experimental Approach to Organization Development (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.