The best thermostat cultures are led and co-created by all. People within the culture have mindsets of ownership, reciprocal accountability and a commitment to development that sets a different temperature for others.
SHOW NOTES
Jason introduces Season 9 episode 42 of the podcast, I am the Culture, We are the Culture. Welcome back to the podcast on corporate culture and leadership and thank you for listening. We engage thought leaders like CEOs, CFOs, managers, VPs, directors, and more for this podcast. We wish to create content that engages your mind and heart and allows you to step back and think and add some positivity to your life. We deep dive into today’s topic.
We can’t control everything but what we can control is our response. Still a lot of work to do but wanted to remind the audience what is within our control is the temperature we create in the organizations and teams we work with.
Please leave a review for the podcast It really helps the podcast to spread these messages out into the world. Please share this podcast with your organization, on your team, or in your life to help spread these messages. Thank you!
If any of these topics are interesting to you please or you want a deep dive on any specific topics, please reach out to us at info@jasonvbarger.com
“I Am The Culture, We Are The Culture”: The Power of Personal Ownership in Leadership and Teams
The health of your corporate culture isn’t an external force—it’s a direct result of how every individual, especially leadership in teams, thinks, acts, and interacts. In this episode of The Thermostat Podcast, titled “Season 9 Episode 42: I Am The Culture, We Are The Culture,” host Jason V. Barger focuses on the profound concept of personal ownership as the core driver of team success and cultural transformation. He emphasizes that shifting from a mindset of blame and reaction to one of proactive accountability is the key to building a compelling work environment.
Episode Summary: The Thermostat of Culture
Jason V. Barger introduces the powerful and simple mantra: “I am the culture, we are the culture.” The discussion centers on the idea that every person is a “thermostat” who sets the temperature, rather than a “thermometer” who merely reacts to it.
Barger recounts a pivotal moment during a culture-shaping initiative with a senior leadership team. When team members began pointing fingers at other parts of the organization for lacking congruence with core values, a leader redirected the conversation by stating, “I am the culture, we are the culture.” This statement served as a mic drop moment, compelling the team to look inward and recognize that their own behaviors and coaching styles impact the wider organization.
The episode explains that culture is dynamic and shaped moment-by-moment by our thinking, acting, and interacting. Dysfunctional cultures are characterized by isolation, the blame game, and thermometer thinking (reacting to problems rather than seeking solutions). In contrast, healthy cultures exhibit four key positive elements: alignment (of mission, standards, and values), performance (increased productivity and results), greater retention and attraction of talent, and elevated trust among leaders and team members. Barger concludes by reminding listeners that culture shaping is a committed journey, not a “drive-through experience,” requiring intentional, long-haul alignment and calibration of individual and collective thermostats.
Notable Quotes on Corporate Culture and Leadership
These quotes encapsulate the episode’s themes on accountability and cultural dynamics:
- “We need to remind ourselves that I am the culture. We are the culture.“
- “The best leaders and team cultures in the world are the ones that make time to step back, breathe in good oxygen, and calibrate their thermostat.”
- “If we want anything to change, we better be able to talk about it, or else we’ll just keep repeating the same patterns.”
- “The first opportunity is for us to look at ourselves in the mirror and look at what temperature we are setting and how we show up to our teams and how we can coach differently to get a different result.”
- “The culture isn’t something out there that’s separate from us… The first place to look is at our very own thermostat.“
- “In dysfunctional teams and cultures, where it is always someone else’s fault, it leads to these symptoms… The focus is on the me, not the we.”
- “Anywhere between up to 22, 25% studies show higher productivity, higher performance metrics when there’s higher levels of engagement and ownership around the culture.”
- “Culture shaping isn’t a drive-through experience. The best teams commit to coming back together over the long haul to continue to align.”
Questions to Ponder for Your Team
Jason V. Barger asks the following questions to stimulate reflection on personal and collective leadership development and cultural responsibility:
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In what ways could you and the members of your culture better own the results and future you are hoping to create?
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What do you want to be different in the future?
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When are you and key members of your team committed to developing this kind of alignment together?
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When do you actually take time to ask these big questions and seek these out together?
Ready to take ownership of the culture you work in? What is one small step you can take today to be a better thermostat for your team?
Links and References
Employee Engagement skills at all year lows – Gallup Link
Follow @JasonVBarger on social media for even more insights and new video content.
For more insights and practical tips, be sure to check out Jason V Barger’s book Breathing Oxygen. This book dives deeper into the concepts discussed in this episode and provides additional strategies for fostering a positive mindset and effective leadership.
By incorporating these practices into your summer routine, you can breathe new life into your personal and professional endeavors. Remember, as Jason says, “The best leaders, teams, and cultures on the planet stimulate progress by recalibrating their thermostat together.”
Please leave a review for the podcast It really helps the podcast to spread these messages out into the world. Please share this podcast with your organization, on your team, or in your life to help spread these messages. Thank you!
If any of these topics are interesting to you please or you want a deep dive on any specific topics, please reach out to us at info@jasonvbarger.com
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Remember, the best leaders, teams, & cultures stimulate progress by recalibrating their thermostat together.
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ABOUT THE THERMOSTAT
Conversations and micro-thoughts to engage your mind and heart.
A thermostat is proactive. It sets the temperature in a room. Controls the temperature. Regulates the temperature. But in today’s distracted, fast-paced and digital world, it’s easy for individuals and organizations to act more like thermometers, slipping into reactionary thinking, becoming scattered and inconsistent. The most compelling leaders, teams, organizations, families, or collection of humans of any kind operate in thermostat mode. They calibrate their mind and heart to set the temperature for the vision and culture they want to create. Jason Barger, globally celebrated author, keynote speaker, and founder of Step Back Leadership Consulting, is the host of The Thermostat, a podcast journey to discover authentic leadership, create compelling cultures and find clarity of mission, vision, and values.