Padmavathy Ravichanran

While flexible hours, gym time and vacation days are perks, a great place is achieved by doing a few practices that instil trust authentically and consistently.

In today’s digital landscape, leaders are inward, outward and forward-looking.

A great workplace is a place where every team member thinks and behaves like a leader, and where you achieve your organizational objectives with people who give their personal best and work together as a team, all in an environment of trust! As Satya Nadella says, “I know-it-all” to “I will learn-it-all”. Learning from inside and outside the organization are both profound.

Mindfulness and reflection facilitate sharper focus and better sensing. Through self – awareness we can address critical questions of, “What could I change to evolve better” and “how can I add more value” by interpreting cognitions, emotions, and reactions.

Here are a few practices to transform one’s workgroup into a great place.

Listening

Proactively solicit suggestions to encourage and incorporate creativity. To develop a personal, connect with team members.

Listening is essential to building trust. Listening to your team members enables you to discover their strengths and challenges, and continuous listening helps build authenticity.

GAVS believes in Respect for individuals, along with instilling trust, through channels of creating Empathy. To make this happen, GAVS has built sustainable tools and forums that encourage listening in the work environment.

As a culture, GAVS follows the open-door policy, and not hierarchy-driven when it comes to reaching out to the right people for the right answers. Each one of us is empowered to share perspectives, facts and solicit feedback that impact them. From GAVS voice to HR forums, from pulse checks to quarterly town halls, from ideation wall to helpdesks, listening is a crucial practice at GAVS.

Thanking

A great place cultivates a “climate of appreciation” by sincerely recognizing good work and extra effort frequently and in unexpected ways. To ensure every person is appreciated and recognized for even the smallest contribution to ease someone’s work. Self-esteem plays a vital role in performance-oriented organization culture and it is a key driving force that motivates in the longer run. GAVS as an organization has imbibed the importance of this and made appreciation/recognition as part of its core cultural practice instilling a sense of purpose in everyone; one of the core beliefs at GAVS.

On-time appreciation and recognition happen at various stages and varying degrees starting from a simple pat on the back to a prestigious Star Performer award during the Town Hall, depending on the magnitude of the achievement and contribution.

The simplest yet effective mode of recognition is an instant appreciation a team member receives from his colleagues/manager in a daily huddle meet, thus promoting a sense of pride and respect. From thank you letter to families to an ice-cream treat for a perfect CSAT, from team lunch and dinners to gift vouchers and GPoints, from Wall of Appreciation/Wall of Fame to spot recognition, from Thank you notes from CXOs to long service awards, GAVS believes that – Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.

Caring

Empathy is one of the core values which GAVS very firmly believes and stands by. As much as we celebrate the success of GAVSians we share the pain of our colleagues during a personal crisis. At GAVS employee well-being is by embracing the individual, in totality. Whether it’s providing a sumptuous lunch, so we don’t have to worry about meal planning or a workstation yoga for our promoting health at work.through essential learning hours or training channels to learning best practices from one other.

From wellness programs like meditation sessions to team lunch and dinner, from a wellness lounge to providing healthy snacks, from health awareness camps to winding off playing table tennis to carom, from health coverage to bringing kids to work, we care for one another. We never miss asking the colleague who is back from a sick day off on how we could help him. A healthier, more motivated workforce is a happier, more productive workforce.

Developing

A great place doesn’t have complicated frameworks and models to drive employee experience. The employee experience is an aggregate of the thousands of short, transient interactions that each employee, experiences every week between themselves, the processes they follow, the technology they use, and the interaction with the peers and managers.

We are part of an industry where skillsets get outdated fast. To have a competitive edge in such an environment we must have the right people with the right mindset, and the right skillset. A learning culture is the one that nurtures talent and fosters competent and skilled resources to excel and pursue organizational strategic goals and the endeavors of customers.

Skills and competencies do contribute to the career progression, but a major part of success is the “how” and the “how well” of what one does in terms of performance and results. From onboarding right to providing learning interventions through a learning journey – either through essential learning hours or training channels to learning best practices from one other.

A great place doesn’t have complicated frameworks and models to drive employee experience. The employee experience is an aggregate of the thousands of short, transient interactions that each employee, experiences every week between themselves, the processes they follow, the technology they use, and the interaction with the peers and managers.

Each of us can contribute to a great place by

  • Having a high level of self-awareness
  • Learning, growing and seizing opportunities
  • Actively seeking feedback and respond positively to it
  • Having pride in our contribution to the mission
  • Collaborating with our colleagues
  • Integrating the practice of listening, thanking, caring and developing to instill more trust
  • Managing your personal brand

As a member of a great place, it is everyone’s responsibility to focus on the full circle and not the pieces alone as every situation may be unique, but a focused and purposeful employee holds the key to competitive advantage for the organization.

About the Author:

Padma’s Clifton Strength Finder Top 5 Signature Themes are Consistency, Discipline, Developer, Empathy, and Harmony. She is part of the HR team, and enjoys listening to her audio books, journaling, and practicing yoga.