Wednesday, April 24, 2013

What Do You Tolerate?

A friend and business woman had her car broken into last night and her computer was stolen.  A professional photographer had her car broken into a couple of weeks ago and had her photography equipment stolen.  There have been numerous accounts of car break-ins over the past month or so... and the local police are telling the owners of the vehicles they can't do anything about it.

This is not new.  I had a business partner a few years ago who had his truck broken into and his tools of his trade were stolen.  The police said they could not do anything about it.  My father, and long-time business owner, has had crime at his office a few times over the years.  What do you think the police told him every time?

My friend is taking a stand.  She is not tolerating the lack of response from the police.  She is spreading the word and creating ideas to help change a culture to stop crime in our city.  It's true, as business owners particularly, we fear the opinion of others when we voice our intolerance and follow through with it.  We fear that others won't do business with us anymore.  We fear what people will think.

But here is the dilemma when you let fear stand in your way:  What you tolerate stays - and gets worse.  If the police tolerate crime in St. John's, it will continue.  Period.  Like my friend stated, if we tolerate the police doing nothing about crime, our culture will become one of crime.

This applies to everything.  In life.  In business.

What do you tolerate at work?  Are you tolerating lack of integrity from people you work with - employees, managers, clients, suppliers?  Gossip in the workplace?  Low quality work?  Poor performance?  Your culture will evolve based on what you tolerate.

What culture do you want?  What can you NOT tolerate to intentionally create that culture?  Yes.  Culture can be created by intention.  Or it can be created by not intending.  The guarantee is that it WILL be created.

Will you take a stand for creating a culture you want in your city?  Workplace?  Life?  Will you NOT tolerate behaviors that are not in alignment with the culture you dream of?  Or maybe the real question is, what culture do you dream of?  Really?  Then don't tolerate anything less.

Tina Pomroy is a leadership, management and culture consultant, coach, and facilitator.  She helps create the culture, systems, and attitudes needed to bring an organization to life!


2 comments:

  1. Fully agree TINA we must be part of the solution. I just saw a sign at Bowring Park parking lot informing of the theft of photography equipment recently -we must act. We must act when we question something. You are so right - BRAVO!

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