Miranda Millard
Chaos Coordinator & Development Assistant
I’m going to say it, I work for the greatest team in the entire United States.
There it is, BOOM, blog done. [Just kidding!]
What’s not implicit in that statement is all the details of the journey that have gotten us and continue to get us there. The MORTAR team is not the G.O.A.T. only because of the individuals that make up this great team. Our talent truly is some of the best and brightest that this great city [Cincinnati!] has to offer – but it’s the way all of the individual talent comes together that makes our team so truly great. “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts” is not just a cool quote by Aristotle.
By focusing on our individual talents and gifts that we each have – we are able to plug into the organizational needs and position each other to work in our strengths TOGETHER. It’s this asset based organizational culture that encourages us each to be our best selves and always continue to GROW BETTER both as individuals and as a team.
MORTAR continues to create an organizational culture of support. This culture of support is integral to keeping your team motivated, productive and performing their best and is the cohesive glue that bonds a team through the struggles and the triumphs. To create an organization of support for your team – consider the following:
- Keep it Strength Based – Strength based organizational cultures focus on the inherent strengths of their teams and builds upon those. It’s the simple perspective of focusing on “what’s right” rather than “what’s wrong” and building upon what’s working to continue to improve, stretch and grow.
- Push AND Pull Each Other – Strong organizational cultures of support recognize that the team and its players will need to be both pushed and pulled. Team members are pushed to continue growing and exceeding their own and the team’s expectations but they are also pulled up when necessary. The same way a personal trainer pushes you to go a little further but then spots you when necessary. A strong organizational culture balances pushing and pulling the team to be at its best.
- Offer transparency – Strong teams are built on trust which is developed from a foundation of transparency. Transparency is authentic, real and raw. It means open, honest and sometimes difficult communication. Transparency in organizational culture offers team members voice and creates safe space – it allows for team members to connect on a real level that fosters compassion, empathy and support.
- Maintain R-E-S-P-E-C-T – Transparency creates trust and RESPECT maintains the privilege of transparency that creates it. An organizational culture of support is rooted in mutual respect among all the members of a team. Respect gives dignity and acknowledges value. It’s an intrinsically human desire that we all have – to feel respected and allows us to contribute to a whole knowing our role has worth.
- Assume positive intent – One of my favorite anecdotes that makes up MORTAR’s organization of support is the MORTAR ‘proverb’ to always “assume positive intent”. Conflict happens in even the most supportive of organizational cultures but when we’re able to assume that people are doing their best to operate from positive intentions it allows for understanding. When we feel understood and we also understand it creates the connection, the trust, the respect and the transparency to operate efficiently and effectively. Assuming positive intention equips us with grace to clear any muddied waters and move forward for the highest good of all involved.
According to Wikipedia, “Synergy is the creation of a whole that is greater than the simple sum of its parts” and “comes from the Attic Greek word συνεργία synergia[1] from synergos,συνεργός, meaning “working together”.” A well cultivated organizational culture of support crafts a synergistic environment where more is accomplished working together than could ever be accomplished alone. And on behalf of the world’s greatest team, that’s how we do.
