SWATHY RAYAPROLU
VANCOUVER ISLAND – In today’s world, we live in a diverse environment in terms of culture, race, demographics and experience. Diversity at work brings in creativity, innovation, empathy, and social cohesion. That’s the case with the insurance team I help lead, and we found these diverse perspectives sometimes led to contrasting styles of communication.
For example, on any given day, member greetings could run the gamut from a very informal “Hey hon!” to a more formal “Hello Mr. X.” We needed to build consistency with the messaging and service we provide to our clients, along with a clear unifying team vision to strengthen our team culture and engagement.
Read on to find out how we went about creating that shared vision, covering everything from client engagement to email GIFs. We knew we needed to find time in our busy office to brainstorm ideas and create opportunities to share, all the while keeping the focus on our goals and purpose. It was a daunting task.
Fortunately, our management was very supportive of this work. We brought in an expert to walk us through the process of creating a team vision & purpose statement, which I highly recommend. This is the process we followed to arrive at a team vision and purpose statement:
- Asking our expert the questions we had entering the process;
- Encouraging thought sharing without putting anyone on the spot; and
- Using a tool called Thought Exchange to gather individual feedback and uncover common themes and words.
We were surprised to see the similar purpose and value choices that emerged from our team members. Using these core values, we then went on to compile value statements in groups, rate the top picks and then turn the top statement into one single value/living commitment statement. This statement represented the shared understanding of what’s important to our team.
Our biggest takeaway during this process was to be sure to negotiate the guiding rules. Expect the unexpected. Be ready to remind everyone not to cross the boundary of respect. Dive in deep with the team to uncover, learn and share common ideals for your team. It’s worth it!
Swathy Rayaprolu is an Assistant Manager at Coastal Community’s Parksville Insurance Office. If you have questions about insurance, call Coastal Community’s experts at 1.888.741.1010.
