Building culture

How many of you attended any workshop or class room training recently? Did you learn anything new that could be use for your life time? I am sure most of you would have attended some soft skill training. But end of the training you would be in square one. Or may one or two point, but I would say, if you have one or two points to remember, that was a great training.

In my previous department we had a workshop where we tried to build a certain culture within the department. I would like to take all of you to this workshop. What I am going to present here is something I had observed at that workshop and how I’d grasped the whole theory to build a culture in our team as well as in my own lives.

First thing I have noticed in every meeting is that there are three types of participants. The first type is people who want to show all that I know everything; second type is the people who want to show others that even I know a lot of thing; don’t think that I am not someone not to be here, last type but not the least they are not interested in anything they just want be silent and watch others show. First two category will make the meeting live.

In the concerned discussion, we had one facilitator to conduct this session on building customer centric culture. The meeting room was like a board room. A big dining table set up with 15 chairs surrounded it. As usual I was late for meeting, not to worry there were other participants joined the meeting after I joint. we had more than 15 people already present in meeting. I realised that everyone read the meeting invite, my manager promised free lunch. Pizza. I couldn’t get a chair adjacent to table. I had sit in behind chairs without table support while I doze off.  Other issue was  Biscuits were placed on the table. I had stand up and take the biscuit if I wanted to but I stuck to the diet for the fear of getting noticed by my senior managers.

There were lots of points being made regarding customer centric culture. We had to build metrics to gauge each task team member’s performance.

So we have decided to identify certain skill set to make sure of the best customer centric culture. It was unanimously agreed to the fact that at each job role skill will vary and after a heated discussion we came to the conclusion that we need to measure a certain skill set to make sure of the customer centric culture. We have added a frame work to measure the skill set which is Thinking, engagement, Achievement and self management. This is the time most active participants, really pour their point of view.   Both parties really compete to put across their points. First person talked about the importance of thinking like a customer, client thinking.  Great start.

Then another person talked about discipline, who is he kidding?. He himself is the epitome of a late comer.

That is the time when our Pizza arrived. When my manager offered free lunch there was a clause that is no lunch breaks. We had to eat and continue discussion. Pizza was served on the table. I was in real trouble now that the biscuits are replaced by Pizza’s and it is lunch. Pizza is always a snack for me. It is never a complete meal to me. So I had to over feed myself to fill myself. It required a lot of planning to make sure stomach is filled with losing much reputation of standing up and lean towards table for Pizza.

The discussion was continuing. Another person mentioned right level of appreciation within the team. Look who is talking again? I will give you a flash back.  Last month he had privately awarded one of his team  member with a brown medal and said that it was a gold medal for his best support during the BCP on the day Raj Kumar died. But since it almost 5 year now the medal faded to brown. The employee got confused and he was not even sure if he had come to work that day.

That’s the time,  I couldn’t help but notice the gradually diminishing pizzas. I tried to swallow my pride and stood up to take the pizza box which I shared with others seated at the back. That was when I realised that everyone was just doing exactly the same thing after what I had done. Whenever anyone from my row stands up to take Pizza, They have shared a piece with me as well.

This was an eye-opener to me because it dawned upon me that instead of lecturing others as to what to do/ how to do, I could simply start doing it and the crowd will follow. You do what you have to do so you get to see the culture you want to see in others. I have consciously started doing this model ever since then and it is working perfectly well more than any other management theories.