Our new home

Today marks a brand new start for Baptistcare. After many years of operating with two head offices, at Applecross and Rivervale, today we have moved into our new office at 100 Welshpool Road, Welshpool. It's a significant change, and hopefully will be a really positive move not only for the staff, but in terms of the outcomes for the people we serve.

In the light of last week's post about saying thankyou,I want to take this opportunity to say thankyou to everyone for the great teamwork that was involved in the move. We particularly acknowledge Bob Bunney and his team in preparing us for the move.

Said thanks lately?

We’re in the process of moving. Two of Baptistcare’s head offices will combine into one at the end of this week. Confusion abounds. Chairs are stacked in the meeting rooms; boxes everywhere; stuff’s been packed and nobody knows where anything is; tempers are a little frayed.

In times of stress and confusion, the usual way we operate is to fall back on the old statement: “Every man for himself”. In other words, to look after yourself and try to protect yourself from the pressure so that you can make it through a period of difficulty.

It’s not the time we would normally talk about saying thankyou. But I would suggest this is the ideal time to think about the rest of the team, how we can work together better, and how we can help each other to get through the confusion. It’s a time to make that special effort to say thankyou.

This Saturday, May 28, is the National Day of Thanksgiving. It’s a day across Australia when people are encouraged to say thankyou to the people around us. It’s a time to say thankyou to God for this great country we live in.

As we head towards this special day, I want to encourage people to notice what those around us are doing, and to say thankyou. Maybe, if we can get into the habit this week we will continue to behave in this way for the rest of the year.

Cafe culture

I was in an airport in a major capital city in Australia last week (I’ll not reveal the location to protect the innocent) and wanted to get a coffee before the next flight. The coffee shop I selected had a long counter but at one end was a sign stating that this counter was not open. So I worked my way along the counter and was a little confused by the barrier that was erected around the coffee shop, the sort that airports use to make sure the sheep, sorry, the passengers, line up in the correct way and the correct place.

After wandering around the barrier for a minute I noticed another sign which directed the prospective coffee shop clients to queue up at a certain location in order to receive service. I followed the rules and was served by an efficient lady wearing a badge that identified her as the supervisor. There were only three people working there, so it probably wasn’t necessary that I knew she was the supervisor, but her manner and the way she served me and spoke to the staff let me know in no uncertain terms that her supervisor status should not be doubted.

Eventually I got my coffee and it wasn’t too bad, but as I sat drinking it, I thought this would be another great illustration of culture, and the three messages that build and define culture that I have talked about in previous posts: systems, behaviours and symbols.

Clearly there were systems in place in that tiny workplace, that required someone to have the role of supervisor and to ensure that the customers were well behaved and only went to one location to make their order. These systems suggested there was a culture of control. This was further made evident by the symbols, which were two signs on the counter, directing customers away from one counter and showing how and where customers were to line up to receive their service, and the badge informing us that there was one person who was in charge. The other message that was sent about the culture of that workplace was the behaviours of the staff, in particular the supervisor who treated each customer with efficiency, but without a smile or a cheery word when they may well be feeling jet-lagged and tired after a long flight.

Take a look around you and see if you can spot other examples of how systems, symbols and behaviours send messages about the culture of a workplace.

More about Culture

In my last post I talked about the railway culture of the Great Southern region. Culture is different in different places and different organisations and there are many influences to culture and cultural change.

Every group of people will create its own culture depending on a number of different factors. It’s possible to intentionally develop a culture, but even without intention a group of people living or working together will develop a culture that is unique to their circumstances. Organisations develop their own cultures, and this culture can be very positive and uplifting for the participants in that organisation, whether they are staff, clients, or volunteers; or the organisation can have a destructive or toxic culture.

Carolyn Taylor describes herself as a culture expert, and she says that culture is created by the messages people receive about how they need to behave. She says that because everyone wants to fit in and be successful, each person will adjust their behaviour according to the messages they receive.

Those messages, Carolyn Taylor says, come from three sources: Behaviours, systems and symbols. Look back to my last post and see what I said about these three things in relation to the railway culture.

The behaviours that are role-modelled by our leaders have a huge impact on us, and we will often copy those behaviours (whether they are good or bad), and our behaviours then become the model for someone else in the organisation.

Our systems, such as the structures of the organisation, the way we plan and budget and the processes and policies that drive the organisation contribute to our culture. Sometimes those systems have been influenced by historical factors and don’t reflect what we really think the organisation should look like.

There are also many symbols which send out messages about culture, and as a result influence our culture. It is not unusual for an organisation to say they are strongly committed to a particular value, but the way they go about doing things acts as a symbol that this is not exactly what they believe.

What are your thoughts about culture?

Along the Railway Tracks

Railways used to be the focal point for many communities across the south of Western Australia. The Great Southern Railway was the life blood of many towns, and along with the farming industry, railways provided employment, transport, life and hope to both families and communities.

On my great Anzac Day Pilgrimage (described in my last post) I talked about going to Badjaling, situated about 200km east of Perth. Until it closed in 1954, Badjaling was a railway siding, complete with huge wheat silos. Now the railway culture of that community has gone. High grass grows up through the rusty lines. The platform has gone, and so have the signals, the wheat silos, the roar of the diesel engines, the bustle of people loading the train and repairing the lines.



Over the next few weeks I want to talk about the culture of organisations. The loss of a culture such as Badjaling’s railway culture is a great starting point. There is no such culture at Badjaling now, the only thing giving an indication that such a culture existed is the symbol of the overgrown railway lines. Two other critical things that depicted the railway culture have gone. The systems and the behaviours.

People used to be able to set the clocks by the train arrival. The train whistle became a part of people’s lives in these railway communities, and their lives focussed around the dependability of the railways. These were systems that became an important part of a railway culture. So were the behaviours. Meeting the train, catching the train, loading the train with wheat, shunting the train and watching their activities were central to the railway culture.

Looking at the symbol of those overgrown railways lines I wonder, could it be that when a culture dies, all that is left is the symbols?

Next post I’ll talk more about symbols, systems and behaviours and how they impact culture. In the meantime, any thoughts of your own about organisational or community culture?