Building a culture of trust

At BOD, the most fulfilling part of building an organization has been shaping its unique cultural fabric. It’s perhaps the most invisible aspect of the organization and one that’s difficult to measure or explain. But it’s felt everyday in the way we go about things, the way we handle clients, the way we collaborate with each other and in the way we treat each other.

The culture of an organization is what it’s people truly care for. I am making an attempt today to share what we care for at BOD.

We are continuously working hard to nurture a culture:

Where people speak nothing but the whole truth;
Where there are no incentives for faking niceness;
Where being nice and kind to each other is a way of life;
Where people feel responsible for not being available for their team members even if it’s for a few minutes;
Where people aren’t afraid to dissent and express their honest point of view;
Where there is freedom from fear of being judged;
Where people can share openly about what they like and don’t like about their work;
Where modern ideas like gender diversity and inclusion are practiced with remarkable ease;
Where each one of us puts the interest of the other before self;
Where serving our clients with compassion comes naturally to us;
Where we prioritize health of our team members and their families over work, always;
Where the personal safety, financial security and peace of mind of our team members is prioritized over utilization rates, revenue growth or profit targets;
Where we prioritize quality of work over number of deliverables or size of projects;
Where we don’t evaluate people by the number of hours they worked but the impact they created with their work;
Where there is complete acceptance of our smallness and insignificance in the larger scheme of things;
Where we like to constantly push beyond our true weight, often succeed at it and surprise our own selves with what we can do.
Where we are proud to live and realize our mission of creating positive impact for our communities, environment, Mother Earth and our nation by influencing our clients to think about the bigger picture, and act responsibly;
Where each of us silently know that we are upto something important all the time not necessarily big always;
Where values are prioritized over skills;
Where we are willing to compromise external growth for internal growth.

I know that’s a lot of things to say and maybe a few more. But if you understand the value of culture to your organization and are struggling to define or implement it, don’t be anxious. It’s a common challenge across organizations irrespective of size. Help is available, you only need to seek better.