You’re Cleared for Culture Kindness
Dec 24, 2024
My wife and I make a habit every Christmas season to watch seasonal movies, reserving time with each other every evening we can.
We have our classics: Miracle on 34th Street, It’s a Wonderful Life, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (okay, that one’s mine, Cousin Eddie).
We also include some new ones like Hallmark Christmas movies (definitely hers, sweetheart).
This year, we found a new one on Amazon Prime we loved: Red One. If you like action/adventure comedies and The Rock, check it out asap.
The title is the call code for Santa’s sleigh and reindeer. Something like, “Red One, you’re cleared for takeoff.”
Santa, played by J.K. Simmons, has a favorite, repeated line: “Every day, every decision is an opportunity.” Each time he says it, he’s referring to choosing to do something or be someone kind. As in the “nice list” instead of the “naughty list.”
Every workday, every culture decision is an opportunity for kindness in your company.
How kind is your culture?
You’ve read stories about random acts of kindness. The person at the drive-thru window who pays for the coffee of the person behind them, who then pays for the coffee of the next person, and so on for up to 27 customers. The same type of generosity occurs at traffic toll booths. It happens more often at this time of year.
I bet you’ve held the door of a store for a physically challenged person to wheel in. You’ve let someone over into your lane of traffic…at least once, right? You’ve arrived at a fast-food counter simultaneously with another parent and motioned her ahead of you, remembering what it’s like to eat out with an 18-month-old.
What if instead of random acts of kindness, you create a culture cleared for intentional kindness?
A culture cleared to take-off with kindness every day with every decision rather than just during the holidays?
A culture where we serve others, knowing that givers gain™ as my friend Dr. Ivan Misner, founder of BNI, says? A culture primarily motivated by an internal attitude of gratitude for customers and clients, teammates and vendors?
It’s as we serve one another from an abundance of culture kindness that the negative world becomes more positive; that we all get lifted up and together work from a common hope to fulfill our collective dreams. That which was impossible appears as possible and then as reality. We achieve greatness together.
This greatness takes off as we serve each other in a culture of kindness. “It’s a dog-eat-dog world and I’m wearing Milk Bone underwear” transforms into “The first shall be last and the last shall be first.”
Service brings sustenance. The universe was created to support kindness—what goes around, comes around; you reap what you sow.
Hopefully your work slows down for a few minutes this week. Invest those minutes in clearing your culture for a kindness take-off, creating a little more peace on earth and good will to all people.
Clear kindness to take-off in your culture this week as you:
- smile at a customer.
- drop a check in a red bucket in honor of your leader.
- Ask a teammate who lost a loved one recently, “How are you?”
- hand-write a thank you note to a preferred vendor?
Company One, you’re cleared for culture kindness take-off!
What’s your question about how to create a positive work culture? Ask Dr. Joey here.
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