Solpak Building - Day 6 of 14 : The Poster

Wanted. Reward: 9 USD.

Not even 9 Canadian. 9 USD. A wink at my dual country life.

My team made this. Put it on the wall behind my desk. I did not ask for it. I did not approve it. I just walked into my office one morning and there it was.

That is culture.

Not the poster. The fact that they felt comfortable enough to do it. The fact that they know me well enough to know I would laugh. The fact that nobody had to run it through an approval process.

You cannot manufacture that. You cannot put it in a handbook. You cannot mandate it in a team meeting.

Culture is what your team creates when you are not in the room. It is the jokes they make, the risks they take, the way they treat each other when nobody is watching.

If your team would never do something like this, ask yourself why. It is probably not because they lack creativity. It is because they do not feel safe enough to be themselves.

That is a leadership problem. And it starts with you.