I recently wrote a Business Intelligence blog about the idea of formalizing a common “language” across an entire organization.
As a leader of a growing company with employees across 4 states, I put a lot of focus on keeping our culture alive through making sure each employee feels connected to the bigger picture. Our culture thrives on collaboration, problem-solving, and openness. That is where, surprisingly, Legos come in.
Legos are more than child’s play here at GadellNet. Legos build our teamwork, collaboration, and positively reinforce our company values.
Each week, employees have the opportunity to earn Legos for “Cheers for Peers.” If you get a “cheer” you get a Lego. So, what’s a “Cheers for Peers?” It’s our internal way to thank one another through an online portal accessible through a computer or mobile device. When someone goes the extra mile, helps solve a problem, picks up the slack, or exemplifies or values in a truly transformative way, a coworker can send them a “cheers.” The crazy thing is that we’ve had more than 3,500 cheers sent across our organization in 2016.
Employees have received cheers for any and everything from consulting on a unique problem or finding a vulnerability for a client before it becomes an issue to picking up coffee or making sure the team is able to get together outside of work. These are usually quick messages like, “Thank you for your expertise on data back up,” or “Way to go on your speaking engagement.”
Our employees feel appreciated through these little messages and the entire team is able to see this ongoing thread of compliments. We started attaching Legos to cheers when we realized that it was going a long way to support the culture we have so carefully created. It was helping to create a teamwork-drive environment through building up individuals.
Collaboration is at an all-time high in our company. Cross-departmental collaboration, especially, has been on the rise. Increased collaboration is helping us to better serve our clients, come up with creative solutions, and become more efficient.
Our Legos, though small, build up over time. Employees are able to get creative with these Legos and just by walking to someone’s desk (no matter which geographic office), our highest performers have complex buildings created from individual blocks from their peers. A few employees even use it to help them problem-solve. As they mull over a complex issue, they work with the Legos to clear their minds a little and help them think of new solutions.
We have always put a great emphasis on our values and through the cheers and Legos, we have been able to see examples of our values being lived every day. All the little ways our employees are making an impact, taking responsibility and helping us grow have been able to really shine.
Building a strong foundation of teamwork through Legos has been a surprisingly transformative movement.
