One thing I’ve learned by spending time in Hawaii: Hawaiian culture is genius for teams

How Hawaiian culture can deeply impact your organization:

Hawaiian culture is all about respect and aloha, or “love.” In Hawaiian culture, there is a deep honor and respect for that which provides for you: “aina,” meaning “the land” or “that which provides for you.” 

Think about that: you can work at a company or you can go to a place of mother nature and you can be so focused on what it can give you: ie what you can take from it. But Hawaiian culture teaches us to honor that which gives to us. Honor the land. Honor the place that provides food, nourishment and shelter for you. And in your work environment, that’s the company you work for, which is providing your paycheck that is making your life sustainable. And in your work environment, if there is a problem, either you leave or you have a discovery for how you can build an aina that operates with harmony within it.When you think about it in the context of a company, it means cleaning up your workspace so that you can progress forward to and/or resolving messes in your communication. 

In Hawaiian culture, you don’t do “breath of life” (aloha) with someone who is ill. You also don’t do breath of life with those where you have ill feelings in the way. You need to resolve that with harmony in order to operate in a fully functional way and with maximum momentum for success. And you do that by connecting in a real sense with those you are challenged by. You do that by clearing up the communication that may be in the way and creating judgment-free zones, creating psychological safety. The lack of judgment makes living easier, and as we know psychological safety is paramount to the success of a team.

These are just a few of the value adds that have really hit home for me that I think are particularly genius for teamwork and teambuilding.