Reflection Blog #3

Organizational culture is such a broad description that can house so many definitions. There are so many things that are incorporated that it becomes difficult to accurately include everything that makes up such a culture. From what I gathered, organizational culture includes work place expectations, the norms, rules, shared sets of beliefs and values, respect amongst colleagues, being fair to one another, similar goals, and collaborating to achieve the desired outcomes. Good leaders contribute to developing, building, and maintaining organizational culture.

Leadership is the difference.

Barb Anderson

After conducting my Leadership Interview; I came to respect my Supervisor so much more. At first I respected my Supervisor not only because she was my superior, but because i admired her. She is so strong willed and appears so sure of herself. She has clear and concise thinking and problem solving skills when it comes to difficult problems or decisions. She puts emphasis on the best interest of all parties involved or affected before making her final decision. She is not only a guide but someone you can confide in when there is a magnitude of self-doubt. She creates an atmosphere where we can do our jobs while being fully supported in our decision making. If we make a mistake, she will let us know where we went wrong and introduce different strategies to ensure that mistake does not happen again, and provide alternative tools that we can use should we come upon the same situation again. My supervisor has brought so much to our table of organizational culture and continues to uphold the fundamental values of our work place.

Leaders do not require just followers. They require people who bring out the best in themselves as leaders, and in turn, bring out the best in their followers. A strong leader is motivated and works hard because others work hard for them. One empowers the group by creating a safe space where all ideas, thoughts, and constructive criticism are allowed to develop into an atmosphere of growth, achievement, and success throughout.

I focus primarily on my past or present experiences when it comes to writing. In regards to leadership, I tend to focus on my workplace and my experiences throughout my time being employed within Child and Family Services.

Prior to becoming employed in my current position as a Caseworker in the wonderful organization that I work for, there is what is now considered the “dark ages.” The dark ages is defined as low employment rates, high turnover, high caseloads, non-delegated workers, neglected needs of the children in care, underpaid, overworked and burnt-out staff, outdated files, missing information, unrealistic expectations, low morale, and extremely poor leadership; among many other things. It had become so bad that my organization almost lost its delegations; which means that my organization would no longer be allowed to provide services until the Government of Alberta and Child and Family Services in Alberta took over with provincial employees, and brought the entire organization up to minimum standard within the province, or have been operated entirely by the provincial and federal governments.

Shortly prior to my employment, the organization received a new director who had many years of experience in indigenous child welfare, and had many networks and resources within the industry. She was tasked with recruiting educated, competent, and caring workers for all positions, bringing the quality of the children’s care to a respective level, and bringing the filing and information standards up to par with the province. Now, this was just the bare minimum to bring the organization up to minimum provincial standard and allowing it to continue to operate. There was still much work to be done.

Many years of unwavering effort, organization, goal creation, delegating appropriate tasks, motivating employees, recruiting new staff, rewriting policies, and relentlessly advocating for equality and equity for all staff and children in care; the organization can now boast some of the best statistics and standards of all Children Services within Alberta. She brought the entire organization together and built an outstanding team of individuals working towards the same goals which turn dreams into reality.

I find it absolutely amazing how only one person can be the start of something so great and productive; and who really cares for the greater good no matter the hardships throughout the process. It took one individual to turn everything around and lay a great organizational culture foundation for everyone to build upon. She is recognized by many but does not want her achievement to be the center focus. She wants the focus to remain on the tasks at hand and the work that needs to be done to ensure stable, positive, and fulfilling outcomes for everyone involved.

My director, along with my supervisor, are my role models and mentors. I may be at the bottom in terms of heirarchy, but these women would never view any staff as inferior; we are all equal, we are all a team, and together we make the entire organization as best as possible to serve the children and families of our community.