Welcome to the CCISD Culture Club, a book club podcast where we explore ways to increase connections in Clear Creek ISD. During this podcast series, Dr. Karen Engle joined by fellow culture club members Holly Hughes and Franklin Moses will read and discuss the book titled The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle. Take a listen as they share thoughts on chapters one, two, and three in the first episode of this series.
00;00;08;23 - 00;00;42;11
Speaker 1
Welcome to the CCISD Culture Club Book Club, where we explore ways to increase connection among us and across and Clear Creek ISD landscape. Hello, I'm Karen Engle, Interim Superintendent of schools, and I'm joined by my fellow culture club members, Holly Hughes, Assistant Superintendent of elementary schools, and Franklin Moses, Assistant Superintendent of secondary schools. We started the Culture Club as an extension of our work on people purpose and promise.
00;00;43;01 - 00;01;22;10
Speaker 1
Our first book is titled The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle. Highly encourage employees to join us on this journey that unlocks the secrets of successful workplaces. The book is split into three universal rules or skill sets for creating a positive work culture. Start with safety, get vulnerable and stay vulnerable and road map your story, establish your purpose. So I'm going to just start off with a couple of quotes and then we'll kind of kick in some some discussion about each of the chapters.
00;01;23;01 - 00;01;47;21
Speaker 1
Here's a quote. We all want a strong culture in our organizations, communities and families. We all know it works. We just don't know quite how it works. And that's what this book studies about. And I've really enjoyed, as we're reading through this, to get to know the how for the culture, the three of us are split the first three chapters.
00;01;47;27 - 00;02;15;25
Speaker 1
I'll lead a short discussion on chapter one and titled The Good Apples, and then I'll go to Ms. Hughes And then Mr. Moses for chapters two and three. So in starting off thinking about chapter one, the good apples, the title of the chapter comes from an experiment on organizational behavior at the University of South Wales in Australia called the Bad Apple Experiment.
00;02;16;06 - 00;02;50;18
Speaker 1
And I went and I found the experiment fascinating, honestly. And I went back and I kind of looked at it again. And in summary, just to kind of give you a preview, there is an experiment done and an individual named Nick and he was in his twenties and was brought into a group meeting with three other people. And instead of being a contributor to the meeting and this Nick was his name, his goal was to sabotage the group's performance.
00;02;51;01 - 00;03;20;23
Speaker 1
And this experiment was done of 40 different times inside, 40 different groups. And Nick took on the role of a jerk, very aggressive, defiant, a slacker with holding information or effort and a downer negative. So thanks to Nick, he did a very good job at being a bad group member. A group performance declined by 30 to 40% in all but one group.
00;03;21;08 - 00;03;57;04
Speaker 1
And this group had a good apple and the title of the our chapter that no matter what Nick did to sabotage the group, this good Apple group was successful. And the group succeeded not because the members were smarter, but because they were safe. And I'd like to really think about this quote. Group performance depends on behavior that communicates one powerful, overarching idea We are safe and connected.
00;03;58;24 - 00;04;33;01
Speaker 1
And in going through, that's really off of chapter 15. And on page eight talks about interactions that create safety and they list some and those interactions include eye contact, shorten energetic exchanges, no long speeches, lots of questions, humor, active listening, just to name a few and all of these are listed on the top of page eight, and they're categorized into three basic qualities or sets of cues.
00;04;33;14 - 00;05;13;02
Speaker 1
And those sets of cues the author defines as energy. Invest in the exchange that is occurring, individualization or treating the person as unique and valued and future oriented, signaling the relationship will continue. So together, these three cues energy individualization and future orientation allow us to feel safe and we can shift into a connection mode. So that's just kind of a big summary of the chapter to start with, and especially that the study, the beginning.
00;05;13;12 - 00;05;37;22
Speaker 1
So can either one of you are in thinking about creating a sense of belonging? You know, it's really hard to build, but easy to destroy. And how can we help our leaders create a culture of belonging and then to sustain that? And is thinking through creating that culture of belonging and then sustaining it in the ideas that you have.
00;05;38;02 - 00;06;00;16
Speaker 2
Yeah, I think it's interesting just thinking in this chapter, also in the first three chapters, this idea of safety and that culture is something that it's not just chemistry. I think I guess I'm taken by the fact that it's something. How do we do that? I think sometimes we rely on teams. We've been a good team. We've all been on teams that are a strong team and we've probably been part of weak teams.
00;06;01;15 - 00;06;24;22
Speaker 2
But really, when you have that, it's not just something that it's about chemistry or luck, that there are actual cues that he's naming in here. I thought that was interesting in that chapter, and I think about, you know, when culture works, it just looks easy. And I really this is honing in on that idea of really looking into those behavioral group identifiers that make it work.
00;06;24;22 - 00;06;57;12
Speaker 2
And I think I think, you know, we're we're I hate to say it, but we're launching into this PLC work. And you see it when it works really well. You see a group working together that's like they have strong commitments and they agreed upon those and they truly do hold them accountable. And it's those behaviors that make it that they all agreed on, that they hold to, that they work towards that when it works really well and it's working to push forward to the goal, that's when you that's when you see it working well as this behavior.
00;06;57;22 - 00;07;15;16
Speaker 2
And I think sometimes we think it's chemistry. But I do believe that some of those behaviors that are held to and that you see that just innately and it is people are making eye contact, people are engaged, people are focused and they're committed. And I think those are those are the pieces that we see when we see it working well and and really pushing forward.
00;07;16;12 - 00;07;43;28
Speaker 2
And it's interesting the the steps that they've taken to hold each other to those commitments. But I've we've definitely seen that, I think in some of our title schools, I've seen specific teams when they're coming around a math focus area in which they've tackled that, they are supremely focused on pushing kids forward, and that is and they're committed to their behaviors in those groups to use their time well in order to push that forward.
00;07;44;07 - 00;07;46;24
Speaker 2
I don't know. Those are my thoughts, but you probably know you have others.
00;07;46;28 - 00;08;03;04
Speaker 3
You know, and you look at what, on page six, top of page seven, he makes a statement. When you ask people inside highly successful groups to describe their relationship with one another. They all tend to choose the same word. And it's not friends and it's not a team and it's not a tribe or any of those type of terms.
00;08;03;04 - 00;08;24;22
Speaker 3
The word they use is family, right? And so I start thinking about that and families are tight knit it like they have their disagreements. Right. I think about all the times that we've had issues at campuses like you can talk about, I can talk about my family, but you can't talk about my family. Right. Were right. We went through battles together and so I have that.
00;08;24;22 - 00;08;52;06
Speaker 3
And so I think about that camaraderie, that time spent around the table that that builds those relationships, that builds that connection, that binding agent, if you will, that says, you know, no matter what, I'm here with you. And so you think about that when you think about schools and faculties and really some of the things that these, you know, teachers have been through, especially right here recently, how we've locked arms and just said we're going to make this happen and we're going to do it.
00;08;52;06 - 00;09;15;20
Speaker 3
And when we've done that here in CCISD so and so, those are the things that that make that culture air and that family feel and make those those groups so successful. Right. And I think that it's not the genetics. Right. Like the genetics does it make the family. It's the time, it's the effort. It's the energy that's put into each other that forms that cohesive group.
00;09;16;01 - 00;09;30;02
Speaker 3
And, you know, that's the things that we as educators have to take time with. Sure. There's the instruction and all the other pieces, but let's find those times to be together and realize that we're in this work together. Right. And I've got your back and you've got my back moving forward.
00;09;30;03 - 00;09;41;19
Speaker 2
It's interesting, once you've been on a team like that, how desperately you want to have that feeling again. Right? And how you will commit to that again and invest in that again to be able to have that reward. Yeah, that's interesting.
00;09;42;02 - 00;10;05;24
Speaker 1
And then going back to you says behaviors and I was thinking when you're talking about have family and you've been thinking about proximity and eye contact and all of those things that we didn't have during COVID, you know, we were split. And how I don't know that we truly understand the impact of not having that proximity and literally proximity matters.
00;10;05;24 - 00;10;27;02
Speaker 1
That it was fascinating to me to read the book thinking that the closeness, the proximity, lots of questions. And I really like the humor part too. You know that. And there's something about just being with people laughing with each other. It allows us to be able to to make those connections. Yeah.
00;10;27;03 - 00;10;42;27
Speaker 3
And the work that the work that we do across the whole district is it's tough work, right? But you got to have fun while you're doing it. You got to enjoy it. Right. And that goes back to that family feel around the table where it fits in approach to the holidays here in just a little bit. And you think about that family time and that's what binds it together.
00;10;42;27 - 00;10;58;09
Speaker 3
Like you may not have seen a family member in over a year because they live out of state. But man, when they come back in the room, it's just like they've always been there. Right. And that's that's the thing. The goal that you push toward in your whether it's your PLC whether it's your campus or whether it's us in the district.
00;10;58;26 - 00;11;10;22
Speaker 1
Absolutely. It's it's such a great connection. And it's thinking about behaviors that contribute to that you engage in with your family. And naturally, the types of things that we're looking at.
00;11;10;28 - 00;11;33;01
Speaker 2
If you think about our even our operations department and our our team, how they come together and they are committed to listening, problem solving, queuing into each other to see where their redundancies are, where their supports can come in to really help each other. And I think about how how closely they communicate to each other to problem solve and to work forward for solutions.
00;11;33;10 - 00;11;45;25
Speaker 2
And I think that it it feels like a family no matter what we're talking about, which side of the department we're talking about, they come together when there's a crisis or when there's a and they spent that time together so they can respond. So well and so quickly together.
00;11;47;13 - 00;12;09;04
Speaker 1
And they may not agree on the solution right away, but you're going to come to agreement. You know, we're going to work through it. And that's part of that, too. And every family member's valued, I think sometimes we you know, we don't need a we'll get titles. We need to look at ideas as and make that a safe space so that every every family member's valued.
00;12;09;04 - 00;12;37;05
Speaker 1
So true. Well, just thinking about group performance and it depends on behaviors that communicate one powerful overarching idea, you know, or safe and connected. And that's really what we're talking about. And we have and you've mentioned that, Holly, you know, with different departments, we've seen examples of group performance and connections. Is there any other ideas that you think that you've seen in our district?
00;12;37;10 - 00;12;43;00
Speaker 1
Could be outside of the district. But I know there's a lot of examples that we've seen within the district.
00;12;43;15 - 00;13;04;16
Speaker 2
You know, seamless groups that take time to listen. I think that we've we've moved so fast and there's been so much that we've been through that taking that time to the groups that to to really engage and listen and that I think that's been an interesting piece that we've brought back. Student Voice Certainly listening to Stakeholder Voice and listening.
00;13;04;16 - 00;13;25;25
Speaker 2
And in that way I think about groups that really take that feedback and face it and, and, and, and feel safe enough to share that, that feedback within a family. Like with your analogy. Franklin I think about that that you can there's no one that will be quite as real with you as your own family member is, right?
00;13;25;25 - 00;13;51;12
Speaker 2
The brutal, the brutal facts and the real truth that that is a piece of really listening and hearing it. And with that trust to that layer of trust, I think that's something that we are can continue to increase and grow. I think that we have definitely campus leaders and different departments that are leaning in to that and and and and dedicating time to that and responding to what they're hearing.
00;13;51;19 - 00;13;56;20
Speaker 2
I think that's part of building that trust and for us, making that feeling of safety and connection.
00;13;58;05 - 00;14;24;01
Speaker 3
You know, I loved hearing the stories and seeing some of that first week back for teachers of campuses that just they carved out time for for quote unquote, family. Right. Whether that was a breakfast, whether that was a potluck lunch, whatever it might be, and a one high school kind of had like a on a, you know, Olympics where they played volleyball and they had obstacle courses and they divided up and competed in teams.
00;14;24;01 - 00;14;48;29
Speaker 3
And that's those are the things, right? Those are the things that build the culture to where I do feel safe. You think about your family. You I've mentioned that like in your family, you're safe to say whatever it is you want to say and you're safe to be whoever it is you want to be because it's family. And so as as PLCs and campuses and as a district, you move toward that feel of you be you can be who you are and you can be safe.
00;14;48;29 - 00;15;13;20
Speaker 3
Feel safe and watch what it is that you feel is right and necessary. And you're also open to hear the commentary back on those comments. Right. And so, you know, as I look at these groups, I see that culture building, that family, this right. And that's going to take us way beyond, you know, anything that we could do individually that.
00;15;14;00 - 00;15;17;20
Speaker 2
Yeah, that leads us into, I don't know, the next chapter a little bit.
00;15;17;21 - 00;15;45;20
Speaker 1
Yes, it does. And I wanted to say one thing too, because we saw it yesterday. It just reminded me of this this energy individualization and coming together, the Clear Creek High School Choir, they came together, they sang Go Go Astros. They took a rendition that had been carried, had been written by a previous director. They sang it together and you could use their individual parts.
00;15;46;01 - 00;16;10;10
Speaker 1
They're there and they wore their favorite Astro gear. Everyone looked different. Everyone had a different heart. And their synergy together was beautiful. And I think, you know, letting everybody shine at what they do, that individualism and then bringing all that energy together. So just kind of the, you know, and kind of thinking about individualism and yet bringing it all together in a future connection.
00;16;10;16 - 00;16;12;08
Speaker 1
It was just a beautiful picture.
00;16;12;15 - 00;16;14;21
Speaker 2
Of the family. And isn't that right?
00;16;14;21 - 00;16;17;04
Speaker 1
It's go into that next chapter. Totally.
00;16;17;04 - 00;16;53;01
Speaker 2
That second chapter, it's called The Billion Dollar Day When Nothing Happened. And that was certainly interesting. It tells a story about a silicon startup and the the launch of Google and and who was going to take on that. But moreover, the the real idea of the chapter and the and the depth of it is it goes back to that connectivity of that people crave social interaction, post-COVID and always people that crave that social interaction that they crave, everyone wants to be seen and they want to be heard and valued.
00;16;53;12 - 00;17;28;01
Speaker 2
And I think that is a piece that when you think about culture, it's that I think about going back to our core values of respecting each other and trusting each other. Those are so important in a base of our work. But I really there's so many things about this chapter, but, and I saw some of my own past work and try and thinking about building teams, but I loved one quote from Coyle in this book.
00;17;28;01 - 00;17;53;28
Speaker 2
It says, Culture isn't something you are. It's something you do. And I thought that in my life and my leadership at some time, I've been sometimes chase that, trying to put the perfect team together and trying to find that magic chemistry. But it is something about the behaviors that you create and and those connections that you set, you share.
00;17;54;06 - 00;18;25;13
Speaker 2
But they talk about this at a time before, gosh, pre-internet internet launching, really before we knew exactly what it was before when Narsa was just experimenting and creating those initial connections that changed the world. But they talked about different models of cultures that existed at the time, and he was really on a high stakes rush, almost like a gold rush, to try to capture the market on on what the Internet would be and what Google searching would be come to be there as we know it.
00;18;25;19 - 00;18;42;25
Speaker 2
But they talked about a star model and it was focused on building teams that were hiring the best and brightest people. And that that would that make the culture and with the team that was focused on that, with that creative output that their innovation, they're really seeking something that they didn't know. They're creating something that hasn't existed before.
00;18;43;13 - 00;19;08;17
Speaker 2
And they also had another model that they reference of another company that had more of a professional model where they built group around specific skill sets that they were had strengths in certain areas and surely those strengths would lead them to this innovation and to this new nersa's new way of thinking. But then they also had a commitment model of of of a different group, that innovation was part of their core.
00;19;08;17 - 00;19;37;22
Speaker 2
They had spent time with shared values and strong emotional bonds. And that commitment model consistently led to the highest rates of success. And in fact, what we know of Google today, they use it. They they illustrated the example of the culture of trust and innovation and being safe enough to try to think outside the box to problem solve in new ways to value each other.
00;19;38;00 - 00;20;16;15
Speaker 2
All of those cues that were built in that system create that opportunity for that new nor that new North Star that changed has changed all of our lives and an epic ways. I think that when it talks about this chapter, it talks about cohesion and cohesion. A cohesive team on page 26, it talks about cohesion, happens not when members of a group are smarter, but when they're lit up by clear, steady signals of safe connection.
00;20;16;15 - 00;20;45;08
Speaker 2
And I think it just when I read it, I think about how much I crave that as a as a learner and a leader myself and appreciate that when it's when it's there. But think about culture and how important that that security is and that those signals of safe connection. So that people can do their best work. I think that's what we we all strive for and that's how we thrive when we have that stability with us.
00;20;45;08 - 00;21;09;10
Speaker 2
And we have lacked that, as we've mentioned, with the pandemic in the past few years. But with the stability that we're gaining, I think I feel there's this change in motion and momentum across the entire district, and it's exciting campus to campus as I'm out on visits to see that momentum happening. But I wondered about the thoughts that you had on this.
00;21;09;10 - 00;21;51;20
Speaker 2
I know we talked about Google. They created a culture of collaboration and creative combustion, as Coyle will say, that everyone has a seat at the table. And in what ways? Thinking about school leaders or department leaders or any honestly, any member of an organization, how they can develop that flow of ideas and solutions, even if it's student voice or or how how did you create those signals of clear connection, whether you're in a PLC or a teacher, leader, a department head, a team, a great little team leader, no matter your role in the district, how can that how can that be developed or where have we seen that develop and work?
00;21;51;20 - 00;21;54;11
Speaker 2
Well, and if you'll have thoughts on that.
00;21;54;22 - 00;22;15;06
Speaker 3
Yeah. I mean I think it thing is so important to to do to learn how to develop the value like the people sitting around the table are valued. It goes back to the family, right? They feel like a family. They feel in some way and some extent valued and what they can bring to the table. Right. And so they they begin to be able to voice their opinion.
00;22;15;06 - 00;22;24;03
Speaker 3
And that's where the collaboration comes in. Right. I forget which chapter it was. I think it was the first one, though. They were talking about how the the the good guy Jonathan. Is that.
00;22;24;15 - 00;22;24;27
Speaker 2
Yes.
00;22;26;07 - 00;22;44;13
Speaker 3
The good guy. Yeah. You know, he would just talk, right. You just he would just ask those questions like Nick didn't bother him. Like it didn't deflect him in any way, shape or form or fashion. Like you just continue to because he wanted everybody to feel rather than just say what the answer was, he wanted to hear everybody around that table.
00;22;44;19 - 00;23;03;25
Speaker 3
And that's where the belonging comes in, right? That's where the value of each person at the table, they begin to feel it. They feel it. They become safe. When they become feel safe, they begin to, you know, vocalize more or share more. And now you've got everybody reaching their full potential at the table.
00;23;05;01 - 00;23;46;08
Speaker 1
Yeah, and I think I went back, I completely agree, which is valuing people. And I did like on page 20, it says they didn't manage their status or worry about who was in charge. It was almost like there is just igniting the grooves, free flowing ideas nobody had. Nobody was worried about being wrong. You know, going back to what you said, it's safe enough to try and I'll be honest, I keep connecting back to some of our amazing classrooms and specifically looking at these elementary classrooms and across the board.
00;23;46;08 - 00;24;13;28
Speaker 1
K through 12. But sometimes you have these little ones that are concerned, you know, they they don't know what to experience. And then these teachers just create an amazing family environment. It's safe enough to try. Every every student's comment is valued and they find value in in everything that each child does. And then all of a sudden they're blossoming, igniting that flame.
00;24;13;28 - 00;24;43;28
Speaker 1
I think that was the verbiage, right? Igniting, feeding the flame. Feeding the flame. But I think it comes from, you know, identifying what I would all of my really bare, you know, I think we we thrive and we kind of move towards what we're good at. And so all that teacher or that department leader or helping people to define what they're good at, but then also not there's there's not it's not wrong.
00;24;43;28 - 00;25;03;20
Speaker 1
It's you know, we've got to have a culture of of failure, if you will. We just heard that. But that's not bad. It's just as long as we learn, as long as we get better failure failures, fine. As long as we get better. And I think that's really what Google established. It's there's nobody that has the right answer.
00;25;03;20 - 00;25;09;13
Speaker 1
And we're not failing. We're just learning and we're growing and it's safe to do so.
00;25;09;13 - 00;25;26;05
Speaker 2
And there's not one person controlling it all. I think about our time. We win when we work with administrators that we're not leading that in a way. We pause and give space for connection. I think about leaders and departments in the beginning of the year, how they gave time for those family to come together and to build that time.
00;25;26;05 - 00;25;49;07
Speaker 2
I think about in our classrooms how teachers are as much as we're compressed with time and we want to do so much that we know that unless we give time to pause and to connect, that we're not going to be able to push for that forward any further, that we have to pause and have those behavioral that behavior, that time for those behavioral cues to develop so that we can be trust or trusting of each other so that we can move forward.
00;25;49;07 - 00;26;07;04
Speaker 2
And definitely, I see that with our morning meetings or class meetings, I think about the power and and just all the times we've mentioned where we weren't able to come together and join together, that those times matter. We want to go. We want to go fast. We want to go so fast. But we've got to take those times to go slow, right.
00;26;07;13 - 00;26;08;21
Speaker 2
In order for us to go fast.
00;26;08;27 - 00;26;09;09
Speaker 3
Definitely.
00;26;09;25 - 00;26;25;01
Speaker 2
I don't know. Franklin, what do you think? There's. I know you thinking about and belonging. I think that kind of that sense of belonging kind of connects. Yeah. To that third chapter a bit. It was interesting. As a historian, you might like this.
00;26;25;19 - 00;26;46;07
Speaker 3
Is really interesting. I mean, they had three great stories in here. One is about the Christmas truce, which was in a war war, World War One battlefield and the Germans and then Britain, the British had these cubes. Right. And and you imagine like this is in that transition from hand to hand, basically combat almost to where we are now.
00;26;46;14 - 00;27;06;24
Speaker 3
And so these guys were just in those trenches in the mud for so long. And so they're fighting back and forth and then all of a sudden they're starting to have some belonging queues, if you will, as is what they referred to them as. And so they start having micro truces. So when the food gets delivered, we don't we don't fight.
00;27;06;28 - 00;27;31;25
Speaker 3
Right. And if it's heavy rainfall, we don't fight. And then it became cold nights. We don't fight. And so these micro truces began to just organically build between these two enemies that are out there fighting and so then all of a sudden they become these out of bounds things, right? So gathering of casualties and in the latrines, we don't fight toward that.
00;27;31;26 - 00;28;05;01
Speaker 3
We don't shoot toward the latrines, supply lines. That's off limits. And so all these belonging cues even though they were enemies, they were at war trying to win this this battle. There were times of what they called micro truces, but they were the belonging cues that set the stage for you know just a deeper connection to where they actually spent time at Christmas and they didn't fight on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day and they actually came together in the battlefield and shared Christmas with each other.
00;28;05;01 - 00;28;20;15
Speaker 3
I mean, are you kidding me? These are enemies, like trying to take each other out on a daily basis. But on Christmas Eve, they said, you know, we're not going to fight. Not only we're not going to fight. We're all going to come out of the trenches and we're going to enjoy the holiday together. I mean, that's unheard of.
00;28;21;00 - 00;28;42;09
Speaker 3
Bright, but that was the belonging. cue. That they felt that sense of belonging across the path. And then the next story was great because it's the one hour experiment. And I mean, it really. I mean, I was like, what? What's one hour? I mean, really, what is a one hour of training so good here? This this this call center in India were losing employees.
00;28;42;09 - 00;29;01;28
Speaker 3
They couldn't retain them. And so they did a quick experiment with two groups. They took roughly around, you know, a couple of hundred hires, and they put them in two different groups. And so the first group hears about the company's success is they get to meet a, quote unquote star performer, and they answer questions about their first impressions of the company.
00;29;01;28 - 00;29;22;14
Speaker 3
Now, that's on page 37. And at the end of the at the end of the hour, they receive a fleece sweatshirt embroidered with the company's name. I mean, it is a state of love for a T-shirt, right? And free polos. And so but the second group, they receive the standard training, plus they got an additional our focus not on the company but on the employee.
00;29;23;01 - 00;29;45;09
Speaker 3
Right. And so these trainees were asked questions like, what's unique about you that leads you to your happiest times or your best performances? And so through this exercise, they were able to share what it meant to them. And at the end they got a fleece sweatshirt embroidered with their own name, and the company's name. Right. And so then it was looked at, okay, don't expect anything.
00;29;45;09 - 00;30;08;12
Speaker 3
Let's just see what happens. And all of a sudden they start to look and the trainees from the second group or 250% more likely than those from the first group to stay on board. Right. It was at additional hour where they were able to just talk about themselves, talk about themselves and what they brought to the table.
00;30;08;18 - 00;30;09;07
Speaker 2
They were heard.
00;30;09;14 - 00;30;28;11
Speaker 3
They were heard. You know what I thought about our listening sessions and and back to our people and our purpose and our promise. And it's so, so important, whether it's on a a big level at the district, whether it's a campus level with your faculty, or whether it's in your places with the with the team lead. Like take that time.
00;30;29;01 - 00;30;51;05
Speaker 3
Take that time. Because time is so valuable to listen. Let people say everything that then talk about what they bring to the table. Because that brings that value, that brings that belonging and all the great things that, you know, we've talked about today. And so it signals that person, you know, they had that opportunity, again, to talk about their individual skills and all those things.
00;30;51;05 - 00;31;15;12
Speaker 3
And it made a difference. And the funny part is, at the bottom, of 39, they asked one specific employee and they expected him to like, remember these awesomeness of the session. Right. Right. Well, we had this chance to talk about ourselves and all that. No, no. They basically had forgotten that that ever happened. Mm. But it was, it was, it was done in such a way that it made an impression on them, on the inside.
00;31;15;12 - 00;31;22;15
Speaker 3
Right. And it, it changed probably who they were and how they approached the work and the job that they were doing.
00;31;23;08 - 00;31;27;05
Speaker 2
That's the behavior of culture. And that rather than just the chemistry and.
00;31;27;11 - 00;31;27;26
Speaker 3
Chemistry.
00;31;27;26 - 00;31;29;18
Speaker 2
This is done to them.
00;31;29;23 - 00;31;30;05
Speaker 3
Right.
00;31;30;10 - 00;31;32;05
Speaker 2
And pulled out from within them.
00;31;32;14 - 00;31;49;12
Speaker 3
It's so good. And then the last one is about the missing layers, of course, that that monitor the missiles and again, their work is is almost obsolete now. Right. And but it's based on this old way that it was done in the fifties and it was just terrible culture. I mean, let's just be honest. It was terrible culture.
00;31;49;25 - 00;32;03;08
Speaker 3
And they were having all kind of major issues and they couldn't figure it out. Well, it was because if you look on page 44, it was because of the three questions, right? Are we connected? Do we share a future and are we safe?
00;32;04;02 - 00;32;08;02
Speaker 2
And so people purpose promise.
00;32;08;02 - 00;32;26;21
Speaker 3
Exactly, are we connected? Yes. You know, and you think about those families, we're not going to call groups anymore. We'll call a family. Think about those families. They're connected, right? They're connected. And we think about those teams, those PLCs that are so effective, they're connected, right? They don't just meet that once per week. You see them in the hallway.
00;32;26;21 - 00;32;49;02
Speaker 3
You sense it when you walk down the hallway that there's a interconnection that nobody really knows about. Right. And so then do we share a future? You know, what is it going what's the what's the result? What are we working towards? Right. What are we working towards as a shared purpose? A shared purpose, exactly. And then the final thing is, are we safe or, you know, are we safe?
00;32;49;21 - 00;33;21;01
Speaker 3
Is are we are we in an atmosphere that we can take risk. Right. And not worry about? If we if we fail. Because if we fail, we're going to fail forward. Right. And we're gonna get better. We're going to learn and we're going to make adjustments and we're going to actually get better in that piece. So belonging the perfect quote on 44 belonging cues did not have to do with the character or the discipline, but with building an environment that answers the basic questions again, are we connected?
00;33;21;21 - 00;33;41;06
Speaker 3
Do we share for a future and are we safe? So while the book focuses on how to, you know, we want to build this healthy work culture, it also points out how you can ruin one. Right? And so what what can leaders do to protect that culture that they are either have or that they're working towards at this time?
00;33;42;10 - 00;34;09;25
Speaker 1
You know something that it just keeps resonating with me and as we're talking and reading through this are our core values. Yeah. If you talk about how are we going to protect our culture, we respect each other, we trust each other, we care about each other. It's woven all through this. And that's not it's the play that we we it is our foundation.
00;34;10;03 - 00;34;31;29
Speaker 1
It's not about adding on. It's about these are our behaviors. And I think if we fundamentally tie back in to do we, how do we show that we care? How do we build trust, know there are specific behaviors that we can do. But I think that's how we safeguard our culture is, in my mind, going back to respecting each other.
00;34;31;29 - 00;34;51;01
Speaker 1
Core values. It's, it's sounds simple. It's not always easy to respect, to listen, right? It's not it's not a it's not as simple as it sounds. But in a lot of ways, I think it's that profound and it is that simple. And I think we all know how to do that. You know, we just need to tap back into it.
00;34;51;13 - 00;35;16;25
Speaker 2
I think it's interesting to what went through this are the stories. Yeah. Now this book so far is lifted up for us through stories, the understanding of culture. And I think when I think about core values, what when we see it well infiltrated into parts of the district or at a campus, it's they lift up the not only model it and they hold each other accountable and they live it.
00;35;16;25 - 00;35;41;14
Speaker 2
Yes, but yes, they're also intentionally or just innately, they tell the stories of how those how those core values are enacted and living out in their culture. And that reinforces that feedback loop and I think that's a piece that is part of that behavior that is consistently happening that we may not always name note. It's just it's there.
00;35;41;14 - 00;36;00;16
Speaker 2
And so I think one thing that leaders can do, and I know I'm thinking more mindfully about it myself, is how to tell the story and how to tell the story to provide that loop of feedback and culture and then lifting up when we see it and what is working well and, and examples of that and how it's played out.
00;36;00;20 - 00;36;25;26
Speaker 2
Kids need that are elementary. I was in a classroom this week and saw it being taught explicitly, being modeled and being also reinforced when they saw it working well. And I thought, boy, if that can happen in a kindergarten classroom, what it once again I'm reminded about how important those lessons are that we learned in kindergarten that can impact culture and still what we do across the district today.
00;36;26;22 - 00;36;56;06
Speaker 1
Absolutely. You know, I think sometimes we need to name it and we need to show it. And sometimes we we talk about talking the walk in, literally naming what we're seeing. We're seeing hearing everywhere and name that and and so that I personally think that might be a great way to end our podcast and thinking about what are we doing and how is that telling our story.
00;36;56;14 - 00;37;17;23
Speaker 1
And maybe we should as a commitment to go out and share our story and tell our story. We thank you very much for joining us today. I know we had a wonderful time chatting about this book. We have this podcast sparked a bit of curiosity with you and you will join us next time for chapters four through six if you have any suggestions.
00;37;18;06 - 00;37;20;02
Speaker 1
Kind of like the Google experiment.
00;37;20;02 - 00;37;20;23
Speaker 3
You know.
00;37;21;05 - 00;37;22;05
Speaker 2
We're open, we.
00;37;22;17 - 00;37;38;25
Speaker 1
Listen, learn, respond, and we would love to improve our district. That is our goal. So please let us know. Thank you and have a great day.