[codingdave]

I've found that individuals absolutely can change organizational behavior. Setting teams norms is a simple first step that establishes what the expectations on response times truly are for various communication channels. It takes 15 minutes in a team meeting, and almost instantly improves team culture. All it takes is one leader to put that discussion on an agenda, and the entire team can relax and let message piles up while they get work done, because everyone has a shared understanding of how the team has chosen to operate.

This isn't just theory - My company was downright sad when the pandemic started when it came to remote culture. But a handful of us stepped up, made suggestions and recommendations, and things have improved greatly. At this point, we have established communication guidelines that are shared with the company, and mostly followed.

The tragedy comes when everybody believes that one person cannot make a difference, so nobody tries.