Tamara S. Balis, our Executive Director, represented the Greenspring Center for Lifelong Learning at the AMS Annual Conference in Boston earlier this month. Over 200 people attended Tamara’s 60-minute presentation titled “The Montessori Organization: Building a Culture of Belonging, Engagement and Ownership.”
“Culture is a set of living relationships working toward a shared goal. It’s not something you are. It’s something you do.”
~Daniel Coyle, The Culture Code
Tamara shared the importance of sharing belonging cues with staff so that they feel connected and safe. She explained that belonging cues share three qualities: energy, individuation, and future orientation. Tamara shared personal stories and many strategies for creatinga culture of belonging.
I bought the book “Culture Code” right away so we are looking forward to reading that. We’re going to look at our staff meetings and redesign so more voices have a chance to be heard. We began using the phrase “clarity is kindness” to focus on making our communication clearer between everyone – this is an area we all need to work on!
When workshop participants were asked to share their thoughts – “I liked…” “I learned…” “I wish…” – the most common comment was, “I wish we had more time!”
To learn more about creating a culture of belonging in your organization, please contact us!
