By Martin san Jose, Director of Human Resources, Scovan
Language quite often becomes reality. How we think, how we speak and how we operate will translate into the overall vibe, attitude and energy of our culture.
Great culture is not something that can be forced or fabricated – great culture is something that happens organically and is created and influenced by the people who are a part of that team. This is a group of talented individuals sharing the same mindset, envisioning the same goal, and using innovation and creativity to stand out from in the crowd. It’s about hard work, disrupting for the better, figuring out unique solutions and doing it all with good vibes and great energy.
At Scovan and Gemini, our people are our focus. Our people are the engine that moves our machine forward and our people are the glue that holds everything together. With this focus, we put together a taskforce dedicated to looking after the overall culture of our organization – this taskforce ultimately became known as the Culture Committee.
So what is the Culture Committee about?
• Purpose – defining who we are, why we are and what drives us to be the best in our industry. Identifying what makes us stand out and what our secret sauce is.
• People – a focus on the people that make up the culture – this is fostering an environment that promotes creativity, growth and an entrepreneurial spirit. It’s about in investing in our people, empowering them to become leaders and ensuring we have the right people in the right seats.
• Engagement & Productivity – an individual who is properly trained in the fundamentals of their art will be more invested, engaged, and confident in executing their tasks. Knowledge sharing and cross functional collaboration will play a key role in the success of any team.
• Social – with hard work and dedication comes rewards. Team building and social gatherings have always played a large role in defining our culture. Whether it’s staff events, industry conferences or hosting our clients—we know how to have fun!
In this new world of remote workstations, social distancing and virtual meetings, maintaining a healthy culture score can be challenging. Our committee consists of individuals from different business units, different departments and even different geographical regions. This allows us to cast as wide of a net as possible in driving engagement and employee involvement throughout the entire organization.
In these unique pandemic circumstances and organizational transformation, we must be creative and we must figure out how to re-infuse our culture. We have two different businesses with very similar cultures, similar values but somewhat different dynamics and personalities. With productivity, engagement and overall wellness in mind, here are a list of strategies we have implemented over the last year:
- Cheers for Peers – Employee Recognition Forum
- Social Alignment
- Scovan-Gemini Directory
- Scovan-Gemini Staff Portal
- Quarterly Challenges
- Scovan-Gemini Step Challenge (June 2021)
- Wellness & Kindness Challenge (September 2021)
- Launch of Quarterly Culture Newsletter – Good Vibes, Great Reading
- First Edition (June 2021)
- Second Edition (October 2021)
- Virtual Sessions
- How Well Do You Know Your Teammates (Team Building)
- Family Feud (Team Building)
- Unify Consulting (Information Session)
- Internal Communications – Corporate Broadcasts
- Scovan and Gemini Spotlights
- Project Spotlights
- Fresh Friday Sprint Sessions Support
We look forward to a the new ‘normal’ taking what we’ve been through and what we’ve learned over the past year and progressively adjusting our strategies to enhance how we do things and how we operate. Take the disruption from COVID-19 and channel our energy and efforts into how we can come back better than ever, positioned to innovate, create and change the way things are done in our industry – none of which can be accomplished without a strong culture at our foundation and footings.
Originally published in Scovan’s IGNITE Vol. 3