How a brilliant work culture feels
While you’re waiting for all those juicy culture conversations, we are delighted to share an article from Boo Coaching and Consultancy written especially for Culture Camp 2022.
Our brilliant work culture
Patti Turfrey Organisational Psychologist at Boo Coaching & Consulting
When we came across Culture Camp with Brilliant Thing, we initially thought about how we could showcase the work we do supporting customers to set the tone of the culture in their teams. However, when I was chatting with Kerry from Brilliant Thing, she reflected on why she chose Boo for her CMI level 7 Coaching and mentoring qualification:
“there was a reason I did my qualification with Boo, I love your values, your dedication to social value and the way that you work and that’s why I chose you as a provider”.
It dawned on us both that maybe it would be better to showcase how we create thisculture from within Team Boo. And that’s why I’m writing this blog; giving you an all access, no holds barred blog of what it feels like to work at Team Boo!
Where do I start?
When I saw the job advert for the role, I immediately contacted Becci, the founder of the company and had a call with her around the role. I asked about the culture of the workplace and she recommended that I spoke with a member of the team, saying, ‘I can tell you what I do but why not speak to the team about how that really feels?’
That was the first indication to me of the culture- open and transparent.
When I joined the team, it like Christmas. I was given a wellbeing welcome pack that had everything I needed to do my job, my IT was all set up, I had been gifted a few books for work, but I also had wellbeing items to look after myself. Firstly, having IT set up and ready on day 1 was a bit of a surprise coming from workplaces where this could take weeks! Secondly, that initial set up of ‘here are gifts to look after yourself’ was again very welcoming and also if I’m honest, a bit alien. I felt a bit like why am I being given gifts… I haven’t done anything to prove myself yet!
This feeling carried on….
In my first objective setting meeting I proudly presented what I thought my objectives were. One of the first things that was noticed was that I hadn’t included looking after my wellbeing. Whilst I’d been asked about this at work before, it was always seen as something you do in your spare time and that work is less of a part of that. I actually felt a little bit “told off” that I wasn’t thinking about myself. In the early days of Boo this came up quite frequently for me when I would say things like “oh I’ll just stay later to finish this” or “pop my meetings in back to back, I’ll miss lunch” or “I logged on at the weekend to do X”.
Instead of getting the “me too!” response and the boasting of being busy, people at Boo took me aside and gently questioned why I was working this way. It actually took me a long time to adjust to the culture and to learn the acceptance, permission and expectation to look after myself. When I eventually managed to start breaking old habits, I realised what a difference it had to my work with our customers, and whilst it still feels a bit uneasy sometimes, I know that my team will gently challenge me if I’m trying to do too much.
I’ve not experienced this before, but the impact on my personal life has been life changing. I’m no longer too tired at the weekends to do things and I make more out of the evenings, I actually feel like I enjoy my time with others rather than wanting to hibernate and hide every weekend.
One of the other things about the culture of Boo is kindness.
Whilst I’d always considered myself to be kind, this job has taught me new ways of being kind and to do it unashamedly. When I started working with my first coaching client, Becci told me to buy a few gifts for my client to welcome them to our sessions, ‘pop it on Pleo’ she said! (This is our expenses card which is also another amazing aspect of the culture, pre-paying our expenses so we don’t have to wait for reimbursement, a life saver with the cost of living crisis!) Won’t it be costly I said? And Becci asked me the question, how does it feel to receive a little packet of joy? To know someone has thought about you?
We spread those ripples of joy and kindness to our customers.
In our sessions, we try to give out handwritten notes of thanks, personalised if possible, and customers tell us a small postcard with a lovely message has such an impact. We’re also really kind with our time. Again, in previous organisations we might be able to have a half day off per year to volunteer; at Boo giving back is pride of place in our work. This means our team have relished in planting trees, volunteering on BackUp’s coffee van, packing school meals and Christmas hampers and litter picking. One of the keys to wellbeing is giving to others and working at Boo has allowed me to do this as part of my job.
You may not be surprised to hear, that we also spread kindness with each other. I have had countless lovely messages, voice notes and handwritten postcards from different members of the team on days that have gone well, or not so well, thanking me or picking out the good on those hard days. I’ve picked up these habits and love giving these things out now too. Connection has, as with everyone, been a bit trickier throughout the pandemic and changes to working practices have affected us too. Atone point we were struggling a bit with connection; working from home, or out delivering solo we were going weeks without seeing each other and some of that kindness was slipping. To address this, we introduced Breakfast at Boo, every Monday, just giving us a pocket in time to re-connect, to be together and recharge with each other, the effect on the team was almost instantaneous. I feel safe in knowing that if we struggle with this again, it will be tackled.
The last thing I wanted to talk about was our team days.
We make a dedication that once a month we get together as a team. Again, compared to other places I’ve worked this is a showcase of the importance Boo put on our connectedness, for me this has helped me to remember and connect with that sense of belongingness. In these sessions we meditate together, we learn about business updates and each of the team members brings something to each session. I like this because it feels like we all have ownership of teaching each other, rather than it just being the leaders of the organisation each time. I went on a course around growing small businesses (Help to grow-tinyurl.com/5n8dmm2t) and now at each meeting I share something I’ve learned on the course. I like this because it gives me responsibility for leadership in the team without being “a leader”, it also gives me accountability for sharing learning and translating my learning into practice.
In summary, for me the culture at Boo is:
Gentle challenges
Openness and transparency
Kindness
Connection and belonging
Learning
Shared leadership
And I haven’t even talked about our office picnics, our trips away together, our award nights, our theatre visits and our festival visits!
