Managers do Design

My Vision of A Living Wage RFL: A Serenity Prayer for Maunakea

Managers do Design

Caught sight of this image on social media:

The IDF mission:
“We democratize learning by providing top-quality, online design courses
at a fraction of the cost of traditional education.”

I clicked in to find it was that day’s entry into The Daily Design Quote they do, and there was no article that went with it.

Quotes are often shared to inspire us, in the hope they’ll move us toward positive action—I share them with you all the time as well! So here’s my take on this one, from a management perspective.

Managers are designers too:

We design and “create culture” as well, for “Great managers know that CULTURE is simply a group of people who share common values, and operate within those values.”
—Language of Intention Feeds the Culture Beast.
—In Culture-building, Start with Communication.

We absolutely, positively know and can attest to “culture shapes values” as a fact of our work as managers. We often speak of it happening conversely, when values shape culture with founder values and conceptual values shaping and informing the workplace cultures we seek to build.
—The ‘Ohana in Business Starts with “Why?”

The statement “culture shapes values” complements culture-founding with culture-building: A founder’s or business owner’s values become the shared values of all stakeholders.
—Golden Rule Management.
—Kākou Communications and Our Tribe.

The statement “values determine the future” is, in essence, what Managing with Aloha is all about—it’s the essence of what we do as Alaka’i Managers. We manage knowing values are exceptionally good in the guidance they give us with inspiring and informing the visions we create. We also know that vision is about visualizing our future and getting it to happen:

“Your MISSION is what you do best every day, and your VISION is what the future looks like because you do that mission so exceedingly well.”

To sum it up, be that manager/designer!

Design to create good workplace cultures.

Foster healthy workplace cultures which promote meaningful values as shared values.

Own your values and represent them well. Create the future we want and need through the practice of value alignment. It’s the ethos of the Alaka’i Manager: Ethos—Be true to your values.