Whispers
Have you listened to the whispers in the hallways or at the proverbial water cooler lately?
What are you hearing?
Who is doing the talking?
Who is doing the listening?
How are they responding?
How often is it happening?
How loud are they talking?
How long does it linger when they leave the “chat room” and head back to their desks to get back to work?
If you don’t listen, you don’t really know the culture of your organization.
If you listen and then do nothing about what you hear, then you don’t really care about the culture of your organization.
If you listen and act on what you hear in a measured and meaningful way, then you not only care, but you have the opportunity to greatly impact the culture of the organization.
When folks are excited, people don’t whisper. They talk loudly.
When folks are anxious and worries abound, the volume of the water cooler chat goes down inversely proportional to the rise in the anxiety.
Listen to the whispers.
Act on what you hear.
Impact the culture in a positive way.
Then smile when things get loud around the office!