Bethesda Week 1 – Organizational Culture & Norms

The organizational culture at Bethesda is casual, results-oriented, and collaborative. Bethesda Academy is an all-boys, Christian boarding school, and firmly believes in teaching their students how to be servant leaders. Dr. Hughes, the president of Bethesda has encouraged an expectation for each of his faculty and staff to lead by example. That is, be a role model for servant leadership. This core value is seen in how coworkers interact with each other both personally and professionally. One interesting thing I noticed was the welcoming (sometimes overwhelmingly welcoming) attitude everyone greeted me with. The excitement for the internship was expressed by all levels of the organization and I am still being consistently asked, “Are you settling in okay?” The way these aspects of the culture translate into my work are similar. I work in an office setting with Dr. Hughes and Ken Vaughn, my supervisor and the Chief of the Leadership Development Initiative (LDI). I was almost immediately told that despite the age difference, I would be treated as a professional colleague and given the same LDI Bethesda pin as everyone else on the team. I was told there would be no dress code and that as long as I produced the results (and met my hours), I could choose to complete the work at my cottage on campus. I made my preference for office settings known, was introduced to the other staff working this summer, and began working!

The first few days were dedicated to reading the Curriculum Development Guide, a training document to prepare and guide the creation of all LDI content. The orientation involved information about the work I would be producing but also other office norms. For example, if I have a question at any point in the creation process, I would walk to Ken’s office (3 feet away) and as directly. If he would be away from his office at lunch or for any other reason, I would text or email him the question. I would also check in with him at specific milestones in the lesson (i.e., after selecting an opening activity, after finishing the PowerPoint presentation). Another norm of the office is that each person gets up to one hour for lunch and can choose to take that break at any point in the day. I was given a Deliverables Timetable, a weekly breakdown of lesson deadlines, but was told the quality of the lessons mattered more than feeling pressured to stay on schedule (luckily we’re already 1.5 weeks ahead of schedule). Overall, the transition into Bethesda’s workplace was very smooth given how well the culture and norms align with my work style. Also, the love I have for the work I am doing is a big bonus!