Culture Trends

The welcome 

To begin, allow a few minutes for people to show up, get acclimated and order a drink or appetizer. During this time, the leads will welcome participants as they arrive. 

Share who we are as a Culture First Community.

Repeat the values/principles of how we do things and what holds us all together. 

The connection 

The Check-In and Introductions

Moving from the welcome, it is now time to allow people to intentionally connect and get to know one another a bit better. To do this, we will have the attendees answer an opening prompt and give them a timeframe (1:30 - 2:00) to answer the prompt. 

The prompt we used worth considering

(feel free to make this your own)

• "If you really knew me, you would know that..."

  • This prompt isn't new, but we told them we wanted to hear:

    • who they are as a human

    • what they do (only if they want to)

    • where they are in life or this moment in time that's helpful context for the group to know

If you have a smaller group, consider having everyone share a one sentence reflection after each person shares their answer. This could be a one sentence thing they appreciated, what resonated or what inspiration was sparked for them. 

Facilitator note - the group will likely get off track with lots of people jumping in, but try your best to keep the introductions moving. 

The work  

We now move in to the work round, which is the main crux of our event where the group is here to geek out on culture trends with their fellow Culture First Activists. 

Let's Talk Culture Trends 

You can facilitate this section in a number of different ways. This is just the simplest way for an in-person session. 

Ask everyone to take a pen and post-it note. Have them write down one topic they wish they could talk to the group about. Take that post-it note, crumble it up, and put it into a pile on the table. This could be a broad industry theme or this could be an individual's immediate challenge. The idea is to tap into the group's collective wisdom and knowledge so we can learn from one another. It's also a chance to talk about how to solve problems in a Culture First way. 

Some examples that may come up:

• fostering connection virtually

• scaling culture

• where the line is to doing what employees ask for and pushing back 

• change management and meeting the emerging workforce where they are 

• intersectionality and bridging personal and professional worlds in the workplace

Have someone choose a post-it note at random. Read it aloud. Consider having the person who wrote it elaborate more for additional context if needed. Open up the discussion to the group and let things flow. Remember to try and tie things back to the Culture First values. 

The work (continued) 

Gives and Gets

Another idea once the group has talked trends is to discuss how they can support one another. 

Have one member at a time share 1-2 things they can support others with. What are their strengths? What can they give whether that's of their time and their talent?

Then have that member share one thing they are needing support with. What they are hoping to get from the group. 

Consider writing these down and capturing these so the group can access this after the event. 

The action (5 mins)

Going to another talk or presentation only moves the needle so much in improving the world of work. It's about the action. This is the time to get the group to reflect and see what they are inspired to do. 

A question for reflection:

• What's one thing you learned that you are willing to put into action?

The close (5 mins)

Event great meeting has an intentional close. Ask the group to reflect in 1-2 sentences: 

• What was your biggest takeaway from today?

• How would you sum up your experience of today's session?

Create space for the community to connect with one another.  Consider inviting them to your slack channel. Consider having them share their LinkedIn profiles with one another. Have a discussion about what they would like to see next for the chapter's next meeting.

Wrap up by thanking everyone for attending and sharing your upcoming events and how they can stay involved.