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Being a Workplace Anthropologist: Finding the Stories That Shape Learning

Shannon Tipton1h 4min

Kate

00:00

So carefully, let's start living dangerously.

Shannon Tipton

00:19

Hello, everyone coming in.

Shannon Tipton

00:34

Happy Friday. Hi Kate, there's another. Friday, and the beginning of August be room.

Kate

01:00

You

Kate

01:08

should be welcome. Welcome.

Shannon Tipton

01:12

How's everybody doing this Friday? Y'all came in quiet. Hi, Jenny. Oh,

Shannon Tipton

01:27

thank you. My bunny. Stay with me. I got bunnies everywhere. Guess that, as my daughter says it's like my spirit animal or something. Guess it's apropos that they're that they're everywhere.

Kate

01:45

Do you have a scarf collection, too above those A few, okay, that's what I thought they were there. I love how colorful that is. Thank

Shannon Tipton

01:53

you. Thank you. When I moved last year and it downsized, right? That those all used to be in my bedroom, and it like took up one big, giant wall. And I was like, where am I gonna put these now? And I thought, You know what? I can put them in what I term the video room, put them in the PO room. And I think that it's pretty but I also think it serves another purpose of Huntington, a sound

Kate

02:17

barrier. Yeah. Yeah.

Shannon Tipton

02:22

Yeah. Like, well, we'll put those scarves to work when I'm not wearing them. Hey, hello, everybody. Funneling on in this August, 1. August 1. People that craziness or what? Yeah, I, I know we say, we talk about this almost every week. It was like, man, as I'm getting older, time just seems to be flying by.

Maria

03:01

Yeah, September already, right? Thankfully, we had September weather this morning.

Shannon Tipton

03:09

Yeah, we do, don't we do? Yeah,

Maria

03:11

thankfully, it's Oh, I wanted it so bad.

Shannon Tipton

03:17

It's been so hot. It is 70 outside. I love it. So I can, I can get used to that. Yeah, thank you. So that was outside this morning with my coffee, kind of enjoying everything and the birds and all that other good stuff, all that other good stuff. All right, okay, so let's get the pleasant trees. Kind of out of the way. Everybody, welcome to the learning rebels Coffee Chat. I am Shannon Tipton, the owner of learning rebels and the moderator of this crazy bunch that meets every other Friday, and I love you all for it. And for those of you who are new to our coffee chat, or new ish, or haven't been here for a while, please let us know in the chat so we can give you the warm welcome that you deserve. And a little bit about video. Some of you turned on your video, that's excellent. Love it when that happens, and if you are, if you are in a position to where you want to turn on your video, please feel free if you're eating or if you're still in your pajamas or you're not having a good hair day. We literally do not care. We just want to see your faces so that way it can contribute to the conversation. If you're not in a place where you feel comfortable, that's okay, too. So we're giving you permission to have those feelings, and it is a rebellious bunch. Connie, I love our conversations and I love where they go, so let's see. I don't see anybody saying that they're new. I. Yeah, which is great, although we love new people, that's great, but it's kind of we got a familiar crowd. That's what's happening, all right? And today's topic all about being a workplace anthropologist. So I thought I'd throw out this new term. I hadn't seen anybody really talking about it? And I thought, I'm going to throw this at I'm going to throw this at the community and see what they have to say about the idea. Now, in years past, I have absolutely advocated for us being content curators so L and D, moving from the course creation mode into resource curators, pointing people in the right direction as to who they need to meet, who they should be talking to, what resources are out there. You know, really being that tour guide of the knowledge that sits within our organization, and I still firmly believe that that really is a key and pivoting role that we should have within our organizations. But then I thought, which is always dangerous. So then I thought, Who is minding the store behind finding the cultural stories of our organization? You know? Now, let me put this right out there real quick before you know, somebody says it, I am not saying that L and D owns the culture that do not be confused by that. That's not at all. What I am saying we do not own the culture. We don't control the culture, you know, at all, right? And that is, you know, everybody's responsibility. But when you think about, what can we do to help build a culture, nurture a culture, bring a culture forward, then it becomes, what do we know and understand? And so the analogy that I thought about was just about being that anthropologist, and actually, I thought about it when I was watching something on the Food Network, and they and they were talking about food and the history of food, and I was like, You know what? Who decided that that was a thing, you know? And wouldn't that be really interesting to be able to dig in to figure out how food crossed borders. And you know what impacted one culture impacts another now and then, it just kind of hit me in how are we doing that within our organizations? How are we digging deep and finding out? How did this culture that we have within our organization actually manifest itself into where it is today, and if it's a good, strong culture, what's our role in continuing that story and helping to help other people who might be new to the organization understand the story of where they are at beyond sitting in an onboarding class and watching a PowerPoint deck that says, This is who we are, and this is who our CEO is. You know beyond that. So that's a long lead up to our conversation today, but I wanted to throw it out there as far as where my thoughts were at when this topic, when I decided to add this topic to the coffee chat list. So now what I'd like to do is I'd like to open it up, and I'd like to get your thoughts about what I just expressed and what you think perhaps might be a role that L and D can play in that turn it over to you.

Shannon Tipton

09:11

Oh, so Marie, thank you. Thank you for taking a moment away from work at the encouragement of your awesome boss. Your boss is awesome. Then I'm looking at. So Maria is like, you don't work for me. So I can say that your boss is awesome. Thank you. So what do you guys think you can put it into the chat or open up your mic, either way?

Maria

09:35

So I'll first of all, yes, I missed what you were saying, and I'm sorry because I I had to finish up a task. Sure that's I was multitasking and totally missed what you said, but I'm sure it was great. But love you. Thank you. You know I'm and I'm working this year on finishing up my second. My masters in organizational change, leadership, and one of the courses I'm taking this semester is well being in the workplace. And it just made me think of that, I guess what I did hear you say, parts and pieces? No, we can't own all of that culture. Obviously, it doesn't one person can't really own it all by themselves. It really takes everybody, but it does ring a bell, as far as being aware of how you feel and what you know, what your part is in it, as far as the overall well being of employees in the workplace, and what can I do versus what's outside my control. And I think that, I mean, I've become so much aware of some of the they're not tests, really. They're, I guess, they're profile things, or quizzes, or whatever, those assessment things that you can assess your own, and then also you can have others take it and assess the whole like, everybody on the team, sure, like, 360, yeah, similar, but it's, it's related to well being, which there's different models. Some have eight, eight different areas. Some have six. And then, of course, Clifton streets has like, five areas, right, and things like that. So anyways, just taking, taking one of those assessments, can actually give you a starting point to kind of awareness of what, how things are,

Shannon Tipton

11:35

right, right, right? And I think so it's, and that's the Pro. It's also the caveat, isn't it? So when we think about personality assessments in the workplace, and people use them for, you know, to help with the hiring process, you know, note to everybody to use it to make hiring decisions is illegal. Okay, so I'll just throw that out there. And the issue sometimes is that organizations will build a culture based on what they look like, right and so and then it becomes reflective, and then you've got a you got an ecosystem that doesn't evolve, because this manager hired somebody who acts like them, thinks like them, reflects them, you know, and then the next manager does the same thing, and then, really, we've got a family tree that is only a trunk, right? It's like that, and that doesn't work, you know is so when you're thinking about organizational culture, and then you're thinking about it from an anthropological perspective, it's about digging in deeper, about where, where did this culture come from? And that could be one of the things right it's because we've hired based on a personality assessment or what have you. And now everybody looks alike. Everybody talks the same, everybody, you know, when I say, look, it's about the look and feel of the culture. You know, not that you're, you know, blonde or brunette or brown eyed, blue eyed. It's, you know, here is, here is what our organization actually looks like, and it should be a variety, you know. So if you take the DISC assessment, for example, you should have people on all levels of that DISC assessment, at all of it, because it all creates a very rich construct, you know, where you get differences of thoughts and opinions, and it becomes very rich, right? Okay, Leslie, look using the AI you go, Leslie, what have we got here? Workplace anthropologists study how physical and digital spaces impact employee, well, being, communication, collaboration, exactly, exactly. And thank you for bringing that up. And so then, what is our role? If we think about it like that, from an L and D perspective, we're in a very unique spot to be able to create momentum around this.

Maria

14:14

I think it's an opportunity to make, make a difference. If you're, you know, just becoming aware of and this, and the things I the type of assessments I was talking about, are not personality assessments. I'm not talking about those so I get where those can fit in or whatever. But this is more about what employees think about, you know, their own well being and the well being in the organization, how well their organization covers well being. But it's interesting that it takes that, yeah, because that's really what the kind of assessment I was talking about. It's not about personality. But yeah, I like what perplexity had to say on that. As far as. You know, physical and digital spaces impact employee, well, being, communication, collaboration, and it's the it does. And I think our role can take that we we look at that. And as someone mentioned earlier, we the stories that was Betsy mentioned that wrote out the stories. That's your opportunity right there. Because all within that are your stories,

Shannon Tipton

15:27

right, right,

Maria

15:29

exactly. And you can bring about change if there needs to be change, or you can enhance what you already have. I don't know, just my thought, yeah, yeah,

Shannon Tipton

15:39

you're right. Because I we can come at this from a variety of different directions, right? You know, D are we going to enhance it, nurture it? What do we bring into it? Exact, exactly? And I'm, I'm looking at the image that John shared in the chat, and I think that is just, that's perfect. That's that really is. So Victoria, I see you. Yeah, yeah,

Victoria

16:04

my brain has been swirling. So I'm trying to, where do I start? But I think the first thing that came to mind for me when you posed your initial question was just, I, I feel lucky being an L, D, because I feel like my role requires me to really have a good pulse of what's happening within the organization. I have to work with every single department in our organization, and so building those relationships across the different units and departments really lets me kind of see that more holistic view. I think a lot of times, departments can get very siloed, but I I feel like it's an opportunity. Having this role, it really is an opportunity. And I think the point about we can have these defined cultures. There can be the one that's put out there in the onboarding, and this is, these are, this is our mission, vision and values. But then there's the surface that what's happening there, and then what's really happening behind the scenes. And so I've appreciated different opportunities, just to kind of pay attention to, okay, what's happening. And since we've largely gone remote, you know, okay, we can't have the water cooler conversations anymore. So what are right? What are ways that we can what are alternatives? So my org uses slack, and so there'll be different channels. And so even just observing what the chatter, what's happening, that can kind of give you a good sense of okay, it is reality. Is reality matching what we're all ascribing to. And I mean, it's been a tough year. My org has gone through layoffs, so I think some of the more well being oriented topics have definitely been a focus for everyone, and so really just being more taking those opportunities to be in tune with what's happening. We also have an Employee Engagement Committee. It's purely voluntary, and it and it's representative of all the different units in our organization. And so you can come in, and the objective is for you to be sharing what you're hearing within your teams and say, Hey, this is a concern for us. Is anybody else hearing this? We have a mechanism to take concerns to senior leadership and say, here are things that people are worried about, or this is what, you know, we think this. Maybe we need to spend some time on this. Here, here's, here's what's happening at the front level lines.

Shannon Tipton

18:22

I Victoria, I think you're so spot on, especially bringing up the remote work, because it's hard to put your finger on the culture when there's nobody, when there's no water cooler anymore. It used to be super easy. You could just kind of hang out and listen to the stories, and, you know, have your coffee and go back to your desk. And you're right, it's a lot more difficult now to try to get to the bottom of that. And you mentioned slack, and I think it's a great way, you know, to kind of, you know, lurk around, if you will, you know, but it's equally as it's equally as difficult, you know, because Are people sharing like they would on Slack than if they would if they were in a communal break room, right? You know? And I think that's such an excellent point and something that we need to take into consideration when we're trying to determine what is the culture of our organization, and how can we keep that rocking and rolling? And I'm looking here, and I I see Marie, but I don't see Marie. So Marie, if I love what you're saying here about I think L and D cannot only uncover the stories that are being told, but begin by asking questions around those stories. And I love what you're saying there. So if you would like to come off mute and kind of expand on that thought, I'd like to hear more. I.

Shannon Tipton

20:02

And if you're talking, you're on mute, see?

Shannon Tipton

20:13

And if you can't talk,

Betsy

20:15

sorry, I couldn't find the unmute button. I'm a teams girl. That's okay. That's okay. I'm on my phone, so it's the app on my phone. Oh, I just, bless your heart, it's fine. It's fine. Um, no, I just think there's, I don't remember who was just speaking now, but it made me think of some of those organizations right where you do the onboarding and you're like, Oh, here's the company culture. And you get into the thick of it and you're like, that's not the company culture at all, right? And so I think that we have a power in asking not only the questions of, like, what is the culture, but what do we want it to be? What are we, you know, an up and coming tech team that wants to be fun, like Google? Or do we have a different culture or right? So what do we want to be? And then stories that are told are great, but also we have to be cognizant of what stories aren't being told and why aren't they being told, and what part of our culture allows for them to be told or not told. Who are who is not feeling comfortable to tell stories, and why. So I think sometimes, just as vocal as the stories are, is the quietness, and sometimes we have to listen to what's not being said to know where we're at with our company culture.

Shannon Tipton

21:29

What a wonderful observation that is, that is, that's great. I love that so much. In your right silence speaks, and are we listening to it? I love that that said so thank you for contributing. That is so you know, I think it's great that we recognize that. And I love the idea of questioning and walking around asking questions. You guys have heard me say that before, and I love the layer of listening to what is not being said versus what is being said. And so once we start investigating and digging into what's around or not around us, what do we do then, right? You know, what's the next action step? Is it a is that then where our curation mindset comes in, where we start gathering these stories and trying to make sense of them and seeing where they lead us? Or, or is there a different approach? You

Shannon Tipton

22:55

know, it's like, oh, well, no. What are we supposed to do with that information? Right? You know. So we think about gathering the heart, you know, finding the heart of our organization. And so how do we make sure that it's, it's reflective. So I'll give you an example. So I, I have a client. It's got a very strong, very strong culture of collaboration and sharing and such like that. And and it has it. There's, it's mission, values, etc, is wrapped up in an acronym. Okay? So the acronyms obviously stands. Each letter stands for something, and that's what makes their vision mission, values, and they talk about it all the time in the training content, though, I don't see that reflective, you know. So you don't see where the training content is connecting to the values of the organization. Is just simply training content, and it's like, Wait, there's this disconnect now. So somebody coming in who's new, perhaps, and they're taking these courses or programs, it's only tribal knowledge, if you will. You know of them discovering what this important value is and how people talk about it, it's not reflected in anything that they're actually participating in, which I thought was a disconnect, because it was the values are very rich, and people it's everywhere. People do talk about it, but I didn't see it in the training content. And I thought that was an interesting Miss, you know. And so that's, you know, one of the things that I'm working on with them right now. But you know, do do we see that within our organizations is that we talk about it here and we see it happening here, but now. Are we actually reflecting it? How are we reflecting it back on the organization? So I'll use that as an example of maybe that's how we can pull some of these organizational stories into, you know, into what we do. So what, what are your what ideas did that spark?

Shannon Tipton

25:31

Yes, Betsy, I search for why they are or aren't, being told to see If changes need to be made. Yes, absolutely. And Elizabeth, I think for the organization you're in, the source of the mission vision is separate from the local locations. Oh, that's interesting. Elizabeth, so then what would be your what would you do? So if you had to do that differently, then, so if the organization, the source for the mission and values is separated from the local location. Why is that? And how can you get closer then?

Shannon Tipton

26:12

So Elizabeth, do you have any thoughts around that?

Shannon Tipton

26:20

Okay, oh, it's a state, okay, I see it. So then, so then there are inherent barriers, right, you know, to that, and that might be difficult to overcome. So in that, do we have a role? Do we have, I won't say, a responsibility. You know, responsibility feels like too heavy of a term, you know, but what's, what's the role? And so Betsy in the same situation, and so now, is that because we're just so Betsy, I'll throw it back at you, Betsy, is Is it because your hands are tied that we're not doing anything, or, you know, not really trying to pull it forward, or is it because that's the way it's always been, and there's, there's no real clear way to tackle something like this?

Elizabeth

27:18

I unmuted, and this is Beth Elizabeth, I think for us, this is a state health department, and somebody many years ago came up with mission and vision. And we do talk about it, and it's on the emails and everything, but when you look at the day to day operation of the local the local county organizations that are actually doing the services for people we we provide those, but I think internally, it's not really practiced people to people with The staff within the organization, which I think makes it each person's interpretation of what that looks like to them in their particular role. So it and we're very, very, very siloed, very much so here, versus compared to the admin and the frontline staff, very separated, and I think it's a culture that was established. It wasn't like that all the time, but then one person came in as the local officer and changed it wanted, wanted to be more hands on with the they call them the senior leaders, the ones at the local who are senior leaders, and so move them all into a hallway so they're completely separated from the people they supervise. And I think that has caused some problems, and there doesn't seem to be an inclination to go back to, okay, having supervisors near the people that they supervise. So I think that's, that's what I've picked up in the two years that I've been here, right? Yeah, and I don't, I don't know if there's any way to counter it. I don't know either. Efforts, I've tried, efforts I've tried are stopped almost immediately. And actually, my access with people I used to have access to when I first came in has been completely cut off. So wow, yeah, it's, it's very interesting. So

Shannon Tipton

29:38

that that is interesting, and that's that makes it really difficult when you've got an organization or an agency, you know, where you've got everybody, you know, sitting in their own corners, doing their own thing, and then at that point, yeah, it's hard to, you know, eat that entire apple. And so maybe what. We can do is we can affect what's happening around us, and can we make our department, you know, reflective of what we believe, the culture is right, and trying to move it into a more, you know, positive area, and maybe that's the only part that you can impact and influence. So start there, right? And it's in to I see John, we we tie culture into almost all of our training initiatives to which Marie has a counter question to that, or a clarifying question to that. How do you do it? You know, what does it look like to include culture and training without it being lip service or corporate buzzword. Excellent question. So John, do you have any answer for Marie?

John

30:53

I have an answer for Marie, but I was 90% done typing it. So you're gonna take away all of my typing.

Shannon Tipton

31:00

You can still type it in and and talk, but not necessarily at the same time, but you can

John

31:06

finish it. Was a great follow up question. That's one of the things we deal with, because want to make it really clear cultural beliefs and an actual workplace culture. Most of the time, we hope they're the same thing, but we're realistic enough to know that they're not always the same thing. Having said that, almost everything we do, whether it is retention and reducing turnover, guest satisfaction in the stores, professional development, we tie it back into our written cultural beliefs, but also the importance of establishing the culture in your department, in your operation, and emphasizing from the brand new employees up, it's everybody's role to ensure that the culture you want is the culture you're creating, and how easy it is, you know, I always go back to Simon Sinek, your actual culture is the worst behavior that's accepted at the highest level. Yes, and we reinforce that over and over again, that we can say it's real talk. But if real talk really isn't being encouraged or exhibited in the departments in the stores. You're not a real talk organization. But having said that, literally, we start all of our calls off with focused recognition. And the focus recognition should be tied to the cultural beliefs.

Shannon Tipton

32:39

I love that. And then when you tie it to something like that, then it, it becomes more tangible, right? People see it, they hear it, they experience it. Versus versus being a poster on a wall somewhere. Yeah, it's not unlike and I'm going to equate this. You can correct me if I'm wrong. It's not unlike when you have an organization that's safety focused. And so every every talk starts with a safety tip, or every time you go into the warehouse you have those communications, it starts with a little safety something, something, right? And then, so then that reinforces that we have a culture of making sure that, you know, everybody goes home with all five fingers and all five toes, and we're very serious about that. And so the same thing happens in John's example there. So when you bring that focused attention of the positive of something that contributes to the organization, then it becomes that walk to talk moment. It really does, and I think that that's a great example of it. And I might, I might also say that when I'm looking through the I'm looking through the chat real quick here as I'm talking, talking about multitasking with it not being a corporate buzzword in your training programs. So John, I don't know how you handle this, but some examples that I've seen and what I have encouraged organizations to do is to incorporate more of their stories into the training programs themselves. So it's not just cut and dry about some particular topic. You know, it's, it's here are the different stories from the different places within the organization to help drive whatever it is you're trying to drive forward. Yeah,

John

34:40

we do both focused recognition and focused storytelling, and the storytelling is again tied directly back to this is how I saw Jill Smith exhibit what we hope the culture will be. So really does go beyond getting away from whatever's written on the wall. Yeah, because if it's just what that's written on the wall, it's not really culture,

Shannon Tipton

35:05

right, right? No culture when. And this is my, this is the, you know, Shannon Tipton view of culture, and I recognize that it's uniquely my perspective. Is culture. Is culture to me, when I explain it to my clients, just like you said, John, it's the behavior that you exhibit every day. So whatever you do every day is your culture, regardless of what it says you know, on the wall or on your business cards or on your website, you know. So the natural things that happen, be it positive things or positive conversations or water cooler gossip about the new person, those things are reflective of your culture. So whatever is natural to what the actions are every day is the culture that you really have, you know. So then observing that and seeing where we can make shifts and changes, or suggest shifts and changes, I think, becomes important, you know. So, like I said, That's my view of organizational culture in a nutshell, without being all scientific about it. But here's but that's my my perspective. So what do you what do you all think you know when you think about your organizational culture, where do you fit into it?

Shannon Tipton

36:40

Or have you have, do you even see yourself like that? So do you see yourself as that person who comes in and I'm on my computer and the next thing I'm on, you know, articulate or Captivate or whatever, and you know, I'm doing my assessments, I'm doing my subject matter expert interviews. I'm doing all the good things that a training person should be doing, which is great. That's what? Yes, that's the job, you know. So do you see yourselves as the person who could be an active contributor to helping move the culture forward in a good way?

John

37:15

I think absolutely, and having done this for a few years, I think we're also in a unique role that people feel more comfortable coming to trainers and facilitators and having conversations about what's actually going on in their department and with their teams that they might not Be comfortable having with their supervisor or their supervisor's boss, but letting us know during workshops and other initiatives, you know, we're seeing this and we're feeling uncomfortable about this, or we're seeing this and we're really proud of it, and that gives us the opportunity to figure out, can we incorporate it into the Training? Is it something that, hopefully we have the relationship with the other departments that we can go to and say, hey, you know, I I've heard from a few of your people that there is a communications issue issue, or there's a siloing issue. Can we talk about what we can do to help you overcome that?

Shannon Tipton

38:21

Yeah, I like that. I like that. And it becomes, you know, where you it's not a business partner. It's, it's not, you know, someone who is the overseer. It's that. It's that handshake partner, right? It's, I'm here for you. I've got your back, and then you're doing it, right? So then it's like, here I'm showing the culture. I'm showing how my partnership works through the behaviors that we have, through the actions that we take, through the words that we use, you know. And Betsy, I'm looking at your comment here about, you know, the culture has to be led from the top, etc. True, true. Walking to talk to leadership absolutely has to do that. But what I really appreciate, which you just kind of threw in, is what I'm getting the sense of but I think it's really important is what little we do is more social based, book clubs, restaurant reviews, etc. While it's culture, it isn't what most would consider when thinking about workplace culture. I think that's true. However, I think what you're doing is an important contributor to the culture, so I wouldn't put that down at all. Those little actions make the culture of your department, you know, and sometimes that's where it's gotta start. Mm. Right? And so your department, you are showing your organization what you're all about. So when you think about restaurant reviews or book reviews, etc, that's a giving culture. That's what it says to me, is that so your department is I want to give you, I want to give you these great pieces of information. I want to be helpful. I want to be useful. I think you would enjoy this. So you're being part of that giving culture which is often associated with learning and development, if done right. And so I think the direction that you're going in, it could be, yes, leadership has started this conversation here, but you guys are amplifying it in a way that's important on this side. And what happens then is that those things just come together, you know? So I wouldn't downplay what you're doing. I think what you're doing is really important,

Michelle

41:01

yes. Hi, Betsy, and yes, it is important, and unfortunately, very few people take advantage of it, and that is mainly because of upper management. You know the work is the work. And if you have time, yeah, you can do this other stuff. Do it on your lunch hour, and that's really how they do it. The value of the employee is doing what we're a regulatory agency, so doing what the legislation says, says we need to do, and that's seems to be what leadership values, and that's what comes down through the culture. And so how do we change that? How do we I mean, is there a way to change that?

Shannon Tipton

42:07

No, the short and discouraging answer might be no, but it's with a caveat. It's with an asterisk where there's a mandate within your agency, right? So a regulatory agency, that's the mandate, and so that is the priority. You know, those are the business goals. The business goals are, are these compliance XYZ items? Now what you're doing is, is like, okay, the Yes, I see that this is the culture that we are, and this is the mandate that we live by. That being said, how can we now inject something that will bring the populace together? How can we get them talking? How can we get them, you know, acting as one, I'm not going to say acting as family, or any of those sorts of silly things that we all can see through. But how can we get your agency or area, you know, to act as one. Because, let's face it, right? We we spend more time at work than we do with our families. So that's, that's the second life that we live and needs to be compelling to everybody. And I think what you're doing those sorts of things, even though it may not have traction right now. And I see, you know, Elizabeth comment in there, you know. So while it might not have traction right now, maybe you've been doing it for six months, maybe you've been doing it for a year, you know, but eventually those sorts of things do gain momentum. And if you start talking about it, you know, in meetings, if you start talking about it at breaks, if you if you have lunch with somebody else in your agency, other than your department, hey, can let's have a working lunch over zoom, because I have questions, and let's talk, etc, those are the little things that move the needle. So I would encourage you to be persistent. But realize that there are higher things you know that are afoot, there are other things that are afoot, and you may not be able to impact those or change those, but you can do things in your scope. Just remember these are the things that you can impact, the things that you can influence, and the things that you can do, and try not to get discouraged. I think would be my biggest piece of advice, you know. So if you are, you know, rocking your own little department's world, then keep doing that, because eventually, you know, it will ripple out.

Michelle

44:57

But the I'm, I. For any suggestions people have on low, no cost, because we, you know this is not a priority, so it's not going to get the money. In fact, they're trying to cut right spending, because it's a state government agency. So anybody have any tips or ideas on other things we can do to try and make it better for the employees.

Shannon Tipton

45:28

Okay, so I think that's a great question, you know. So when you think about, you know, well, first off, let me ask you this. Betsy, do y'all work together? Are you remote on some level,

Michelle

45:41

we are remote. On some level, everybody has to come into the office, but we, a lot of us, are allowed to take up to two days remote per week. So we've and because we are, I mean, state government redesigned itself a few years ago, and so agencies that were separate were brought under one tight, under one group. And so that's what's happened with ours. We were the Department of Environmental Quality, and we did have some silos. We had offices, you know, land, water, air, etc. But now we've also got another side brought in with the oil and gas commission, liquefied petroleum gas commission, so and those are scattered out into other offices. So trying to make it one whole is more difficult, but we do have a common teams network, etc, so we can pull them together across those silos, if we have a reason and a way to do it. So

Shannon Tipton

46:58

what sort of ideas do you guys have, you know, to kind of help Betsy start off, and while it's slightly it's not that's not really anthropological in the question itself, but it does become something that can grow right, and it could be nurtured where maybe they can start telling their own new stories, that this is the way we work and this is the way we operate, right? Because culture starts from somewhere, yeah. So what kind of, you know, what kind of help can we give? Low cost, no cost, you know, one of the first things that kind of pops into my mind, you know, is, you know, a little lunch and learn type of thing. Or, if you've got a book club that is a live book club, you can meet over lunch and have discussions over lunch. But it doesn't have to be a book club, per se, like a book club. I wrote a post, I think, ages ago about alternatives to book clubs. So they could be a podcast club or a listening club, right? Or, yeah, it could be like bonita. Perhaps it's to help them navigate the political realities of the culture, right? So it could be a support group, ish, right? You know, to get people to join up, not unlike what we're doing here. You know, with this group, it's free, it's no harm, no foul, type of environment, people can show or not, and again, it's going to take time. You know. So, you know, don't expect things to kind of blossom right away. It's an effort that could be supported. So if you think about a legend, learn, let's just say, let's just say the book club, not Lunch and Learn. Let's say book club. Ish, maybe it's Movie Club. I knew a girl who ran a movie club, you know, at her work, you know, so everybody seemed to like certain themes. And it was a themed sort of, you know, January, we did rom coms in December, you did Hallmark movies, you know, it was something like that. And so maybe that could be it. We're going to meet over lunch, through zoom and in person, and we're going to have this conversation, and we're going to start opening up those barriers, so that way we can start telling our own stories, and to move that needle, right? So Leslie, let's see Leslie. Leslie, I'm looking for your Be Kind Campaign. Basically, it's a teams chat with this title and people, Oh, I love that. That's a great idea. I might have to steal that one. There's always something I end up stealing from you guys on these calls a kudos page, submit the info and the team. It works better than an. Fashion newsletter, right? Yes, and it does. Because now what you're doing, Leslie, is that you're finding the stories out there, and you're sharing the stories in a good way, so it definitely fits the topic. And then what that does is it keeps those stories alive. And that's the other thing when you think about you know culture, when you think about you know culture from a worldwide type of culture, the reason that some cultures stay alive is because of the stories that they tell about it, you know. And they, they go back to the past, and they, they realize that their past has impacted their future, and they're, they're telling those stories. Yeah, thank you. I will thank you. Leslie, yeah, and yeah often about how someone has helped a customer. And I think Betsy in your world, this could be really key. So if you guys are in environment, in environmental agencies, and there are certain topics that are passionate amongst your people, it could be water preservation, it could be land preservation, it could be animals, it could be anything, right? And so then it's about where can you find where people are doing good things in your organization, how they helped somebody, how they helped something, how they moved the needle in some way. And you're sharing those stories. I love that. Another idea. Victoria, yeah, highlight a different group or department, things that they are doing absolutely and again, it's that lunch and learn. I think we need a different name for lunch and learn, because I think it's kind of, you know, people are just like, No. So I, I'll, we'll have to put on our thinking caps about that topic for a different day. But I, but I agree, if we can get those gatherings in place, because that's the other thing that drives culture, where people come together, right? And they they sit around the fire and they share their experiences. So how do we replicate that? You know, within the organizations? And I think what Leslie, what you're talking about, or and Victoria, what you're talking about, those are very important ways of doing it. And the same thing with John, it's like it's, you're building, for lack of better analogy, I guess, is you're, you're building that fire pit for people to gather around. You know, where people are happy to share what's happening. We have two staff members who dogs. Went through dog therapy programs, and they bring them in once a week. Shannon, I want to I want to work there. I want to work in a place where people bring their dogs to work. Yes, and that is a type of action that should be captured, and that's where we can help, because we are that's the superpower of learning and development, is capturing these moments and putting them out somewhere else, archiving them, not necessarily archiving them, but creating that story path with them. You Yeah, right, yeah. Create opportunities for connection points. We call it pup control. How cute is that? Right? Yes. And so it's and I again, that's our superpower. Our superpower is bringing people and knowledge together. So now let's just think about that in a more broader cultural sense. And again, I'm going to say it again. It's what you can influence and what you can impact if you can't, if it's if it's not in your circle of influence or circle of impact, don't stress out over it. Don't worry about what's happening around the circle, you know, because that might not be within anything that you can impact at this moment. But this impact point, this impact point here, this one right here. Think of it like a rock that you threw into the middle of the lake. So you threw this rock into the middle of the lake, and it's going to ripple out. Eventually it will get to the edges, and I think that's what we can do, right? And so when we think about this from a again, from an anthropological perspective, it's about asking those questions. It's about digging deeper. It's about talking about it, and that's where we can make magic happen. Yeah, often people read the be kind announcement and do emojis after they. It as another way to recognize it, right? Then some people go the next step and verbally say something kind it's that pay it forward, right? So you've got that culture. So that culture is already starting, you know, they pay it forward and say great things. And then the next thing you know, somebody else has something else about somebody, and then off it goes. It lights a fire, you know, it didn't start up. I'm sure that you will tell me that you didn't start it on Monday, and all of a sudden people were doing it on Tuesday. You know, it takes a little bit of time, you know, to get that ripple out there, but I would ask you guys to have some patience around it. And with the the conversation around wellness, you may want to mark out your calendars, because August 29 and I'll put the, you know, the Zoom link, you know, for all of these coffee chats. You know, there, um, where we're Chris cold, Donato is coming back and spending time with us and talking about burnout, the recovery from burnout. How to Recognize burnout? You know in yourself. You know how to get in front of it. And so for those of you who are asking about wellness in the chat, I would encourage you to come back on August 29 Well, I would encourage you to come back next coffee chat too. But on August 29 we're, we're in particular, talking about that topic. Okay, oh, that's a great that's a that's a great statement there, John, you know the irrigation effect. The further you get from the source of the week, the weaker the pressure gets. You need to make sure you have booster pumps along the way. That is, I like that. And so that could be your champions, right? So you have your champions out in the organization who are talking about the things that you do in particular, or just talking about some of the cultural

Shannon Tipton

56:58

activities that might be going on, you know. So they, I'm they are certainly not phrasing it that way, but they are talking about, you know, Hey, did you go to the movie theme night? Did you do that? Oh, you know what I did. I used to do this back when I was doing workshops for ATD. And ATD would do those big, long and they still do those big, long ass workshops, you know, they're three days or five days or whatever. And at lunch, I used to show a movie clip. So I planned it so that way, by the end of the week, the whole movie would have been seen, you know. So it was like 15 minutes or 20 minutes or five minutes, depending on the length of the class. And so I'd show that clip of the movie, and the movie, of course, related to whatever the topic was, you know. And of course, you try to keep it so it's not like a horror movie or something like that, where people are screaming from the room, but something, you know, nice and in the middle and that people aren't going to get upset about. But that was kind of fun. So maybe when you think about bringing people together, that might be a start, right? So we're going to show one half of the movie, an hour's worth of the movie on Monday, and the other hour of the movie on Wednesday, and you kind of have this cliffhanger effect. People could come and then the next thing you know, they're talking, they're laughing, they're telling stories. And these are the things that we can make note of in our head. So there's a idea that I just remembered from my past that might be helpful to somebody. You know, when you're looking for those places to bring people together, what about the agency director doing quarterly town hall meetings? I like that, so you got to get the agency director right. Bought into that particular idea, but a lot of them used to do it. It fell off the radar, and I'm sure a lot of them wouldn't mind picking it back up again. Company publishes an electronic newsletter on a regular basis, and it's full of kudos events, etc, right? When we see somebody we know mentioned or picture the team chats comes alive. I love that, yes. And I think again, when we think about incorporating these things into our training programs, this is where it really starts to gain momentum, you know. And it's always a risky thing to have a face of someone within the organization, in your training programs, because Sure enough, you put somebody in there on Friday, they quit on Monday. It never fails, right? And then you gotta go back and you gotta redo the thing. But sometimes that's okay, depending on the on the story that you're trying to tell and the course, you know, so and i The person who brought this up, you know, I kind of feel it, because right now, one of the other things that we're trying to do for somebody else is we're trying to build a culture campaign for them. And I know it sounds weird to build a culture campaign, but what they want to do is. They want to, you know, help others see what they're all about, and give those real life examples and make, you know, have the organization realize that while you may not think we have a culture, we really do, and you are a strong part of that, and you and these are the actions that we've seen, and this is what you're doing out in the field that really make this come alive. So you are a part of something really important, you know? And so when you have those sorts of initiatives, then I think it's okay to bring people in and tell the stories, as long as your organization is indeed talking that talk and walking that walk. Because if it's fake, people will know it right away, right? So that's, that's, that's the caveat, right? A book I read that touches on, maybe this talk the power of mattering. Oh, that's good. We'll have to add that to the resources as well. Thank you for that. Excellent, excellent. All right. Well, we are at the top of the hour, and as always, these things go really fast. So our next Coffee Chat. So for those of you who are new to our coffee chat or newish, don't forget, these are every other week, so not next Friday, the Friday after we are doing our presentation skills showcase. So what I want from you all is what are your favorite presentation skill techniques, be it virtual or live or even hybrid, you know, so what? What are the skills that you are just displaying? What sort of activities do you use? What sort of engagement topics or activities are you using? And I want to be able to build this nice list of all of the good things that you guys are doing to build engagement or in your on your online programs. So if you have some fun things that you do in your online programs that make people click Next without it being, you know, all blingy, blingy, but you know, has purpose, then we want to hear about that, right? And so that's the topic next week. Is our presentation skills showcase, and then the coffee chat after that is our burnout recovery. So on that note, I hope to see you all there. It's been a fun, fun chat. Now who's doing what this weekend? So Laurel, thank you. Thank you for joining and thank you, John, for your contribution. Really appreciate it. It is a fast hour. You're cleaning the garage now. That does not sound like fun, that's not fun. And hopefully where you're at is not terribly hot, so you won't be melting while you're cleaning out a garage, right? Yeah, working on a novel. No. Michelle, no way. What's the novel about anytime visiting from Hawaii? Well, I think I would have gone the other way. Do you have room over there on the island? Because it's super hot out here, and I'm sure the weather is perfect there, Sash squash. Your your novels about sash squash? Is it a non fiction?

Shannon Tipton

01:03:33

Your fiction on now, I'm intrigued. That may be next year. All right, it's only 69 here, yeah, the the temperature did drop, so I'm loving that

Shannon Tipton

01:03:45

fiction, or is it

Shannon Tipton

01:03:51

I love that Michelle? Okay, now, so now we're going to have to hold Michelle accountable, and we're going to have to get novel updates from her. That's awesome. All right, you guys, thank you so much for joining me this week. I really appreciate it. As always, it's been a SNA holler, and I'll see you for our presentation skills showcase in two weeks. Bye for now you.

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