The Right Culture for the Best Community

I started a new job this week. My first day consisted of an all-day orientation and training. The words I heard the most for the first two hours were “culture” and “community.”

I work for an organization where culture is the thing that is valued most. This is because that culture affects the entire community.

For a first day on a job, I must admit, I have never felt so inspired…

Now don’t get me wrong, at previous positions, I have felt happy and welcomed and eager to start.

But I never felt so inspired immediately, within the first fifteen minutes, as I did just two days ago.

In my day one of training, I met each person in the room. The CEO took time to speak to us newcomers and later even greeted me in the hallway. We watched videos that emphasized the importance of that excellent culture and why our actions are so vital to the community.

Here are seven takeaways that I noted from this new hire training experience. Even though these details were specifically about health care and the role we “caretakers” have in quality of lives, I believe these words can be transferred into any organization, any industry and followed by any individual who cares about the employees and the people they serve.

Read them. Think about them. Apply them….

1. You are an “owner” at this organization. We want you to act like an owner and take ownership. We don’t hire “renters.”
2. We are here to impact lives, help people and make a difference.
3. You have the freedom to express compassion for people.
4. Love what you do. Love your job.
5. What we do is way too important for mediocrity. We want great, better than great. Good isn’t enough. Our culture is excellence.
6. We will never penalize you for speaking up, reporting a problem, helping someone who is lost and doing the right thing.
7. Titles don’t matter. We expect everyone to be brilliant.

Are you speechless reading this too? Wow! I sure was. I had to sit and type them up because I want to remember these phrases. I want to live them.

I hope I can live up to these standards. I will give it my all. I will embrace the culture. I will do what I can to support and enhance the quality of my community.

Because I believe that what we do matters.