Caroline Corry – Organizational Culture Blog

On the first day of my internship, my site supervisor and the founder of the Virginia Holistic Justice Initiative, Tom Barbour engaged us all in defining what and how we want to relate to and treat each other. Tom began with setting his own three expectations which included assuming positive intent in each other, prioritizing face-to-face conversations with the individual directly involved, trusting each other, and taking ownership of your own success and the success of the project. He then asked for others’ opinions and people added to that list of expectations and norms through volunteering. Things that were added to this list include points that people should speak up, be kind, be okay with failure, respect others and their time and ideas, and encourage participation from all. Tom set the tone of people really assuming the best out of everyone, being open and communicating well. Tom really emphasizes the importance of relationship building behaviors and believes that good communication is the foundation of a good working relationship. Because it is a nonprofit and Tom also still practices as an attorney, he is stretched pretty thin and so is relying on us heavily to spearhead the project and troubleshoot as much as possible before coming to him for help. This causes Tom to put a lot of trust into the new interns and gives the interns the feeling that he thinks we are capable adults and believes in our ability to think through problems and sort out issues. Therefore, Tom’s function as a leader of this RVA Justice Hub project is to deal with the major roadblocks and overarching issues rather than figuring out smaller details with the interns. However, Tom has made it clear that he is more than willing to help us get over any issues that cannot be figured out by us alone. He does once or usually twice daily check-ins about how we are all doing and feeling and has encouraged us to talk to him if we are feeling uncomfortable in any way. Tom also leads by example and tries to mitigate or explain any obstacles we may face before we actually meet them.