Please think back about ten, maybe even fifteen, years ago…what was different in our culture? What weren’t we exposed to? Any ideas?
By the title of this blog, you may have guessed where I am going: very few reality shows existed.
Now every network has some sort of reality show and after a few years, they all seem to take the same turn. The shows become more scripted with ever increasing amounts of drama. The problems become more and more inflated, as do the personalities. Conflict, revenge, hate become accepted, even encourage. It has been such an imperceptible infiltration that we don’t think about what has all of this done to the cultures in our workplaces and worse yet, our homes! After all, how many of these shows are now based on “real-life” professions?
However, if you really think about it, you have to wonder how real are they…
In the interest of full disclosure, there are a few shows I do like and some of the car shows are among my favorites. What I won’t do is watch are the shows that personally pit people against people. The shows that encourage “alliances” to be formed while the producers show the same people plotting against their “team”. It becomes survival of the “fittest” or in most cases, the most nasty. The worse you are to others, the more likely you are to win.
Is that really what we should be exposing ourselves to? That level of negativity and distrust is so harmful and toxic. How do we not take the experiences we have watched unfold into the context of our own business world – our real reality?
In a business culture, the team must come first. Trust is the crucial element. The individual team members must trust that their own success comes by helping others succeed. The better we treat others, the more likely you are to succeed. None of these are new concepts, yet we still have to get out of the mindsets and culture of reality television. It is not real! We are real. Our lives our real. Our families are real. Our business cultures are real. Do you honestly think the “Real Housewives” are real?
It is so easy to fall into the negative. We want attention for ourselves. We crave attention to validate the work we do. We search for fulfillment of our egos at every turn. It is so easy to fall into the trap of obtaining our needs at the expense of others. Yet, when we do, the attention doesn’t really meet our needs – or at least, it shouldn’t. Gaining personal progress at the expense of others doesn’t come close to be as rewarding as helping the personal progress of someone else.
Don’t believe me…try it sometime! Help someone else succeed. Yes, it takes time and, yes, it isn’t easy. Just watch though, as their mistrust will turn into gratitude. It gets even better when they turn and help someone else. Now we are building a real culture. Now we are building a team built to succeed!
So, how do you get everyone else on board? It could be within an internal committee, set up with the goal to engage and improve culture. You could use a third person to come in so as to facilitate better one-on-one, group and company-wide interactions. Even a book club to focuses on positive, helpful discussions will open communications. There are so many avenues you could take, so let’s get started. Please let me help you! Let’s take those first steps to reclaiming our culture. Our positivity. Our realities!!!
Thank you for joining me on this journey. Comments and questions are welcome. For more information on an assessment of your current business functions visit our Services page.
