Adopting an Organizational Culture Code, Lynn Johnson, Spotlight:Girls

Editor's Notes

• #2: Simon Sinek urges us to “start with why.” That’s the key to great leadership and building an org that matters. Let’s be honest, sometimes it doesn’t work that way. Sometimes we have to back into it.
• #3: Knowing your why – and, more important…being able to ARTICULATE it to everyone your org touches…is the key to creating a organizational culture that allows you to stand out in your field or industry. Or, in our words, it allows you to take center stage.
• #4: Taught drama and made plays I was good at it – 20 years Knew it was important, especially with girls Had to search for a Why
• #5: In 2008, I found my WHY at the Greater Good Science Center
• #6: From here, I created a mission statement
• #7: But HOW did my WHAT relate to my new WHY How was the experience of girls doing plays building the foundations of a more compassionate individuals and a more compassionate society? My advantage – I had to break down this super-sized concept into pieces that a child could chew on, enjoy, and digest
• #8: First, I had to learn as much as I could about compassion. I learned from scientists that human beings are wired for care and connection. We are wired to be able to respond with love to suffering – both in others and in ourselves.
• #9: I learned so much – so much complexity – that I had to go to my happy place and make sense of it all. Organize it in a way that I could teach it to kids as young as 6. 3 day retreat in the redwoods, we came up with our culture code. I had to break it down into bite size chunks that our girls could digest.
• #10: And what emerged was the Go Girls! Culture Code – taking all that we learned, valued, and understood and put it in the language of the girls themselves
• #16: So, we got to our WHY to create this this Culture Code but now, it is infused at every level of our business – the why, how and what.
• #17: Again, it’s the manifestation of our mission statement – what would a Compassion Revolution actually look like? How will we know when we have succeeded in igniting one?
• #18: It’s our education methodology – We teach each point through games and interactive lessons It’s also our community contract/behavior code – how we are working to actually be with each other during our programs
• #19: And it’s how we do business in all of the other areas of our organization
• #20: And it’s working…
• #21: Don’t be afraid to back into you Why Find out how WHAT you do connects to a greater mission or purpose And then, break that super-sized why into child-sized bites – make sure its yummy! And don’t forget to invite everybody involved with your organization to the table