Every year Federation closes up to clean the office. We throw out files, and the smell of cleaning chemicals infuses the air. Of course we should be doing this at Pesach, but who has time at Pesach with the crush of the holiday! So in mid-July the recycling bins come out and we free the office of clutter.
I spent the day clearing out a number of virtual files. And I came across one that really captures a key part of the workplace culture that I believe is critical to foster: open debate about important issues.
This article on eJewish Philanthropy summarizes the problem of CEOs who demand lock-step agreement of their staff with their views. The article really captured the reasons it is important for anyone with supervisory authority to cultivate a climate where people feel it is safe to offer an opposing view of how we do things.
If we don’t have a climate where people feel safe about articulating opposing views and questioning how we do things, we are going to perpetuate really bad habits and make really bad decisions. At Federation, we are continuing to develop and nurture a culture that encourages, even demands, the practice of voicing opposing views.
I’ll give you an example: there is a whiteboard on the wall next to my office where I wrote a list of 4 “top priorities.” Three of these priorities were real, but one was not: “Retractable Roof for Federation’s Kopolow Building” (it was an attempt at humor). Now I have heard that some staff wondered if that was a serious idea because they thought it would be a bad expenditure of resources. Well, just for the record, I agree with them—spending millions of dollars to install a retractable roof on our building would be a terrible expenditure of community resources!
Presumably, hopefully, anyone who had a concern about that would air that concern well before we began construction. But the point is illustrative of the partnership that an open deliberative culture demands. We have serious needs in the community that we are working to address, and we are simply not going to solve these problems with a culture of complacency. Open, free deliberation, respectful of each other, focusing on ideas rather than people is a significant piece in designing a solution.
It starts at the top: Federation staff with supervisory authority are actively charged with creating a climate and space that fosters robust debate. Our staff is encouraged to take advantage of that opportunity and step up to the discussion! It is, in part, this environment and culture that makes Federation such a great place to work (and keeps us from adding a retractable roof!).
Check out Federations current employment opportunities and add your voice to the conversation.
