Anese Cavanaugh - Contagious Culture: Show Up, Set the Tone, and Intentionally Create an Organization That Thrives

If you enjoyed this book, discover your next great read with the following excerpt.

I wanted my last book to be called Show Up. My publisher and editor had other ideas, and we named it Contagious Culture instead. Of course, they were right. Contagious Culture turned out to be the little book that could that continued to build momentum and grow and attract people in ways I hadnt considered possible. Schools, health care systems, law enforcement programs, organizational development programs, and more adopted it and blended the work and principles into their way of being and practices in ways that fit their industry.

It didnt matter the size or company; the people who embraced that book wanted a culture that assimilated and celebrated the soft stuff and things like intentions, energy, and presence (IEP). The people in the organizations I met with and who were reading the book also wanted to create organizations that invited everyone to be response-able for the energy they brought to the table and the impact their IEP had on their culture. They knew what so many forget (or just dont know, yet): that happy, present, fulfilled human beings working together are what make any organizationand its bottom linethrive. They also knew that energy and connection have a big return on investment (ROI), that purpose, love, and kindness (to self and others) is often the answer to some of the most complex questions, and that true success starts with each person showing up individually and together because each of them wants to.

These organizations held people as equally important as any tangible business result or financial impactif not more important. They knew that the soft stuff was in fact magical titanium, netting better financial results, better customer care, better business outcomes, and happier engaged people at the end of the day.

They knew the importance of authentic and sustainable employee engagementand the stats to go with it (see The Cost of Disengagement and Some Interesting Numbers on Trust at the end of this Introduction). They also knew that there was more to it than just doing culture and engagement and doing management and leadership; they had to be it. After all, in those engagement surveys that we all see, who are the people who are keeping their employees and each other engaged? They are. We all are. On both sides they saw their responsibility to create an organization that nourished engagement for their employees and also for themselves.

Low and behold it worked. People reported feeling happier not just with their work but with their professional and personal relationships, and with their lives. High-risk employees began taking more ownership for their impact and career (or exited with dignity); leaders whod previously left dead bodies everywhere they went became more pleasurable to work with. Executives considering leaving their organization found new ways to love and lead in it instead (and stayed); teams worked more collaboratively together; teachers felt less stress, more present, and more excited going into their classrooms.

Reports of more and more honest, clean, and direct conversations occurred. Deals were closed; promotions were had; money was made; disempowering stories were learned from and changed; divorces were more peaceful and intentional (some were avoided all together). People got out of their own way, replacing the Drama Triangle with accountability and purpose. Many shared of significant weight loss and improvements in health, and even their therapists asking them what they were doing to create these shifts. Some of the more heart-wrenching outcomes came from people going through incredibly difficult life events, like the woman who shared that working her IEP supported her through the death of her husband.

No realm of life or business has been off-limits in terms of impact and possibility for those who were willing to dare to engage.

How did they do it? What were they doing? They did the work I outlined in Contagious Culture. Not only did they achieve better cultural, business, and collaboration success, but also their personal lives were positively impacted. Which makes sense and can be expected, because as we say in this workits all one life, and it starts with you. And thats where this book comes in.

After my first book, I heard countless stories from readers, revealing themes of how it impacted their lives, such as:

A fuller, more credible presence (like the executive who became more trustworthy with her team, within a month, simply by shifting her awareness, intentions, and presence)

A richer quality of life and relationships (like the leader who left one of our sessions and redesigned her marriage with the spouse shed been ready to divorce two days before)

More space (like my client who went from having no room for lunch or breaks or to hear himself think, to getting workouts in and taking a three-hour window of nonnegotiable white space each week)

More grace (like the attorney who felt the only way he could be successful was by being a hard-ass to all, and therefore alienating everyone, but who eventually learned how to expand his range and became a Velvet Hammer and more pleasurable to be aroundespecially for his wife and kids)

Better financial results (like the team who closed a seven-figure deal after doing the Five Steps to Intentional Impact from the IEP Method before the client meeting)

And leadership that was more powerful, helpful, and positively contagious (like the Director who went from being overwhelmed and not taken seriously by his firm to Partner in under a year while making only three simple changes in his presenceand they werent the changes he originally thought he needed to make)

All of these people were the answers to their own problems. But they wouldnt have known that going in. They needed awareness. And they needed to work it.

So they did. But they needed more. And this is where the book you are holding in your hands comes in.

More than three years after the release of Contagious Culture, I continue to receive feedback and questions about being contagious, my concept of Intentional Energetic Presence, and the IEP work (the methodology I created to support people in showing up better, which I will share later in this book). Ive listened earnestly and have identified overall themes to what people took away from the content.

The first theme was surprise, excitement, ownership, and action. People were surprised by what a personal inside-out approach creating culture actually was and how much their own IEP and self-care impacted their environment and results. I am the culture? How I show up matters? Taking care of myself is a leadership skill? Im my best bet for creating the culture and life I want? And I am contagious? Great! They were on their way.

The first half of Contagious Culture focused on the reader as leader; only in the second half did I dig into culture. This was intentional. After all, I am the culture (as are you, he, she, and they)and I control me. Most were excited; some were relieved. If they were the culture, that meant they had the power to shift it. They didnt have to be just at the effect of their culture or the people around them; they could be the effect. These people applied the principles and quickly saw results not only at work, but at home.