Organizational CPR and Resuscitating Workplace Culture with Jason Barger
I got certified in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (or CPR) when I was taking a Community Policing course through my town. I should take the course again because as with all things, our knowledge can fade over time. But one of the things I do remember is the idea of the “rescue breath.” I guess the name struck home, the rescue breath being the “breath of life.” The rescue breath is executed when the person cannot breathe on their own. You are, in a very real sense, breathing life into the person by pushing your oxygen into their body.
When learning CPR, it becomes clear how simple acts could have a profound result. Breathing is basic and something that most of us do without thought. It is a simple physical act that we execute about 22,000 times a day. Clearly with COVID, we recognized that our ability to take in oxygen, while simple, can never be taken for granted. When our ability to breathe for ourselves becomes impaired, we need help. And whether through CPR, an oxygen mask, a respirator, or some other means, having oxygen breathed into us can be a life saver.
Simple acts leading to profound outcomes are not just limited to CPR. As an ethnographer and consultant, I try to notice the simple things, because it is in the simple things that the impetus for major changes is possible. When trying to make changes, it is common for people to move to the complex before trying the simple. New processes. New technologies. New structures. New organizations. New policies. All of these are attempts to go big rather than starting small. But we cannot lose sight of the importance of the small, of the basic. To not lose sight means to be able to notice, and those noticings of the simple acts can lead to bigger ideas.
Keynote speaker and author Jason Barger knows all about how starting small can lead to major outcomes. His first book was “Step Back from the Baggage Claim: Change the World, Start at the Airport.” 10,000 minutes of observations in airports over one week taught him about how make changes to our lives today. "The airport metaphor leaps to life through profound anecdotes about an orphanage in Mexico, a summer camp in Ohio, bamboo, the homeless, climbing Mt. Everest, a hotdog grill, and much more.” Small noticings at the baggage claim leading to more profound ideas when we give ourselves the chance to notice. Noticing can be the hardest part, but the most important.
In this new book “Breathing Oxygen: How Positive Leadership Gives Life to Winning Cultures,” Jason looks at key traits that leaders need to breathe life into organizations. The breath they need to breathe is meaning, purpose, and positivity. The mindsets he focuses on in his book (clarity, inclusivity, agility, grit, rest, and ownership) show how by adopting these perspectives, these necessary elements of organizational life can grow.
As with CPR, before you can give someone else a rescue breath, you must take in a deep breath yourself. By filling your own lungs, you can then fill someone else’s lungs as well. For leaders, the same can apply. We need to find meaning for and in ourselves as well. We need to breathe that oxygen into us to be able to more effectively bring meaning out in others.
As Jason related, “Every human being on the planet is part of a team of some kind. A team at work. A team at home.” We all want to feel like we belong and are part of that team, find meaning and fulfillment through that team. That the team is there for us, and we can be there for it. Through this, we can co-create a culture together that is meaningful and hopeful, leading to not just better work, but a greater purpose.
In many ways, meaning in our lives is just as essential to oxygen. Leaders need to create that life by making spaces filled with meaning and positivity, and make it feel alive with belonging and the potential that comes from working together.
You can listen to Jason talk about his life, his work, and his new book at Experience by Design Podcast