Our Culture Code

As a Project Manager you recognise that having a focused team is one of the foundations for project success. It's also true that a happy team tends to be both more creative and more productive. Company culture sets the scene within which our work takes place. It plays a key role in ensuring this level of engagement is commonplace and therefore I believe, is something we should all be passionate about nurturing and protecting.

There has always been a strong sense of culture at Terabyte. Give any of my colleagues the opportunity to describe our culture you’d most likely hear that we’re a diverse bunch who genuinely enjoy working together. You’d also almost certainly be regaled with stories of mid-winter Christmas parties, Friday pub lunches, experiments with egg-nog and BBQs on the deck.

While describing social activities is a reasonable way to give someone a feel for our culture, the description is really only part of what defines our ethos.

Recently a small team took time to step back and think more about what makes Terabyte unique and reflect on our shared values and the values that underpin the way we operate. 

Armed with Sharpies and Post-it notes we adopted discovery techniques we use with our clients and after a series of workshops our thoughts and observations came together to form our Culture Code - ready to share with the wider team.

It’s important to understand, we’re not a "values framed and mounted on the wall for daily polishing" kind of organisation; therefore we needed to consider how they would be introduced. Our Culture Code should be embraced by everyone as their own, so we felt the introduction needed to be memorable.

The idea was simple: create an afternoon of problem solving and discovery for the team.  An opportunity to get out of the office and, within groups, complete four activities that provided hints toward the four elements of our Culture Code along the way.

The afternoon started with many metres of (Toto’s) pizza for sustenance followed by a quick visual exercise where the teams were tasked to turn a teammate’s squiggle pattern into a squiggle bird. Once complete they were handed a clue to lead them to their first destination and they were off!

At each of the four locations the teams were greeted with a challenge and also given the opportunity to earn a ‘gold coin’ for demonstrating specific qualities as they completed the task – each encompassing elements of our Culture Code.   Additional points were also awarded for selfies capturing the team celebrating their success at the end of each challenge.

With time between activities, the groups also had the opportunity to complete a scavenger hunt (bring back something fluffy, something hot, 2 round objects …) a number of photo challenges (‘I can’t believe we can all fit in here’, team shot around a Kauri tree….) and solve trivia (identify the Terabyte babies, identify these 5 fonts? ...).

Back in the office, the afternoon ended with traditional Terabyte fare (beer, wine, chips and dips) and hilarity as we watched each team’s Michael Jackson Thriller rendition. We also took the opportunity to frame the afternoon with a discussion about the Culture Code supported by photos from the activities the teams had just participated in to reinforce the thought.

Our challenge now: to ensure as a team we keep our Culture Code alive.  To use it to guide our decision making, align our attitudes and underline our approach on a daily basis.  Not only within the doors of Terabyte but also during our client interactions and extending to our consideration for the end user of the product we’re creating - and if we protect what we hold as true, these guiding principles will also act to strengthen our competitive advantage, our deep moat.

The results:

Winning team: MIB

Runners up: Spaceheads

Best dressed team: Spaceheads

Best blind drawing: Doug

Best looking set of Squiggle Birds:  Still undecided, you be the judge and let us know your favourite!