Navigating the “New”

I am fortunate to be part of a dynamic group of Edgewalkers who are determined to make the office environment a better place as we all physically return to work. We have framed our work for the coming year around the theme of “Navigating the New.” When we came up with this theme, one of the team members expressed, “I’m glad we did not add the word ‘normal.’ Other team members were supportive of this as well, stating that it is not going to be normal and we have to stop thinking that there is a return to normal. They are right. As we return to our places of work we will be much better aligned with the still-changing environment to recognize we are navigating the new and that it is far from normal.

Increasingly, directional arrows and instructions in stores, markets and office buildings are being removed. Restrictions are being lifted, and health-related advisories are relaxing. Even in some restaurants, management is no longer enforcing that servers need to wear masks. In my office building, masks are no longer required and are only recommended if we are in crowded spaces.

Just the other day, I found myself walking down a hallway at work with my hands full of meeting supplies. A coworker was approaching me, wearing a mask. I realized that I did not have time to put my mask on, so I simply called from a distance, “Are you okay if I am not wearing a mask?” The question sounded strange coming out of my mouth. The other person did not say a word, but kept walking towards me, eyes on the floor, and shuffled against the opposite wall of the hallway as we passed. In a pre-pandemic world, we would have at least exchanged pleasantries – a smile, nod or “how ya doin’?” While this experience is new and common to many of us, it is far from normal.

In various communities of which I am a part, we have been talking a great deal lately about the importance of having and following a code of conduct. As we enter into a world of ever-changing new, I believe it is critical that we revisit what this code looks like.

In the pre-pandemic environment, I was routinely invited to facilitate team discussions for the purpose of building team charters. In those days of normal, I found all-too-often that after a year or two, I would be invited back because the team had either lost sight of their completed charter or they did not complete the charter in the first place. They often got as far as identifying shared values and the steps required to ensure a safe and healthy work environment, but failed to make the charter a living process within their organization. It was a document they placed on the shelf or in the shredder. They lost sight of the goal and the process.

More than ever, we need codes of conduct that not only make sense, but can also respond to our ferociously shifting environments. We need to take our codes of conduct out from behind the glass frames and team building workshops and see these charters as living documents, alive in the people who built them. This takes grit, grime and willingness to look within during the creation process, and in the continuous reflection on the values and qualities of the codes to instill them into the very core of the teams they are meant to serve. Team members must measure themselves against the codes they helped create and ascertain if they are in-line with these codes.

Taking the First Step

You might be asking, “But Donovan, how will I know if I am in-line with the organizational code of conduct? What do I measure against?” I tell you the truth, if you do not know your own personal values and code of conduct, you will not be able to align well with those of the organization. Sure, you will be able to adhere to them, and maybe even quite happily. But eventually, you will begin to wonder why you are frustrated, unhappy, even angry at the team members around you and the organization you work for.

The solution is within reach. The road to developing personal and organizational codes of conduct is directly in front of each of us. The key is to pay attention to the square of real estate directly in front of me instead of to what others are doing. My journey starts with that little square, and whether or not I choose to step forward onto it. Edgewalkers typically choose to step forward. It is who we are.

Abundance Mind-set

The kind of step I am talking about is not just a random act. It takes an abundance mindset. What I mean by this is that all-too-often we take steps to respond to a condition from the perspective of deficit. We perceive either the environment or those we wish to assist as being in a deficit and in need of help, or we perceive ourselves to be in a place of deficit. Most importantly, I need to recognize deficit or abundance-thinking and attitudes within myself. If I step forward with the deficit thinking that I am not equipped, or others are not going to accept the change I am leading, then success is going to be much more difficult.

As Edgewalkers, it is critical that we begin and end each day with an abundance mindset. We do this by focusing on what we have, and what we have been blessed with. When we do this, we look inward and outward with a spirit of gratitude. We focus on what we have, what we are thankful for, and how our abundance allows us to greet others in a good way.

Personal Core Values

The first step in building a team charter and code of conduct is necessarily to learn and understand my personal values. I have written previously about the importance of learning my personal core values. This is no joke. For Edgewalkers, personal core values drive us and work in our favour when we know how to use them.

One of the keys to using my personal core values in this context is to also know and understand my mission and vision as well as those of my organization. I could not fully form my mission and vision statements until I understood my core values. They helped me to understand why I exist and my deepest desires.

Personal Code of Conduct

Now, finally, Edgewalkers arrive at a space where we can become more intentional about our own personal code of conduct. My code of conduct develops out of a sense of who I am who I wish to become. Foundational to my code is the beliefs with which I was raised combined with those I now follow. For me, this includes a strong sense of being a child of my Creator, with Divine dreams knit into my being. My beliefs originate in a faith-based community, but have grown beyond the walls of religion to a sense of spiritual connection with my Creator, creation, and fellow humans. As Edgewalkers, many, if not all of us, have an intimate connection with a higher, Divine power.

Out of these faith and spiritually-based connections come my understanding of the person I want to be while I am doing the things I do. I believe that critical elements of a healthy personal code of conduct include the daily intentional practice of:

• Integrity
• Honesty
• Transparency
• Vulnerability
• Patience
• Compassion
• Self-control
• Humility
• Kindness

The critical thing to remember about codes of conduct is that these mentioned elements must become practice in order to be worth anything. Practice is second-nature to Edgewalkers, so we are natural leaders in the business of developing codes of this nature.

Cycle back to the organizations where I have facilitated team charter development. The reason those charters floundered was because the team members did not put the agreement into practice. Practice always starts with me, my little square of space, and that’s all. As we collectively step foot-forward into the world of practicing our personal codes of conduct, then and only then can we begin to develop organizational codes of conduct.

Incidentally, the elements for an organizational code of conduct are an accumulation of the common elements within the codes of conduct of the team members. If we want to see what elements to include, we need look no further than the people building it. But that’s a story for another day.

Donovan Mutschler, MA, MC

For more information on this or other topics of interest contact Donovan Mutschler at donovan@edgewalkers.ca.

Title image credit: Lara Dawn Photography