CYA Culture Is Never Going Away

As long as corporate workplaces have cultures of fear

Photo by Smartworks Coworking on Unsplash

A very integral part of my Christian faith, which I don’t talk publicly about much anymore, is doing good deeds or giving without taking credit for it or seeking public affirmation. I don’t tell people about causes I donate to or times I give to homeless people anymore, mostly because it’s the deed itself that counts.

However, as gratifying as that is on a spiritual or personal level, I would not give that same advice to someone in a corporate or quasi-corporate workplace.

At one point in my work as a teacher, it was four days before the end of the quarter. A couple of my fellow special educators and I noticed that one of our seniors was failing and that the student needed to pass just one class to graduate. He had been struggling mightily in that class all year and struggling with attendance. I took it upon myself to work with him on a final presentation and final essay for two hours a day, three days out of the week to help him graduate and get his grade up.

In the end, he ended up doing the work and graduating. I was very happy and proud of him for the significant progress he made and the effort he put in at crunch time. As educators, we should always, always be reluctant to take credit for our students’ success, because…