Team spirit is contagious

“At the time, I thought it sounded like fun,” says Frida, assistant in the HR department at GF Machining Solutions in Vällingby [Sweden]. “After all, no matter how good things are, there is always room for improvement, especially in terms of the relations between colleagues.” In addition, Frida was new to the company and saw the Culture Movement as an opportunity to get to know the location better.

Frida thought there was room for improvement in the communication among employees, who - spread over the two buildings at the site - in their everyday routines rarely ran into each other and thus mostly did not personally know each other. Asking for advice or help was difficult. “We are only separated by a street, but at times it felt like a long trip to make,” she explains.

Rikard Bergqvist, Workshop Manager Automation, and Henrik Larsson Sevon, Quality Assurance Engineer, also signed up as Change Agents. The three attended an online training and then got right down to business: “Frida and Henrik were great to work with because they were so proactive and dynamic,” says Rikard , who has been with GF for five years.

In a meeting, Frida, Rikard and Henrik informed the entire staff of the Vällingby site about the details of the Culture Movement. They then asked the departments about what they felt could be improved and received some straightforward answers: “Employees simply wanted to learn from each other – both from other departments and from people who have more experience than they do,” Frida says.

The interactions in Rikard’s team also improved: “We’ve learned that it’s not necessary to create a report in the system for every question and every problem,” Rikard says. “Sometimes all it takes is walking over and talking to each other with an open mind and respect.”

Twenty-four employees from 11 departments participated in the program. To include the roughly 150 remaining colleagues in the Culture Movement, Frida, Rikard and Henrik invited them to participate in one of four excursions with a joint dinner. This was very welcome: Some colleagues went to play boules with the site’s General Manager, Christophe Massart, while others competed in pool or bowling, or cleared a level in the laser dome. The idea behind the activities remained the same: Frida arranged mixed teams from different departments, allowing the participants to get to know each other playfully. After that, they were able to chat in a relaxed atmosphere over dinner.

Thanks to the concept, all events were a success – and having joint meals at Vällingby has turned into a tradition: “It’s nice to see that the groups gathering in the cafeteria have become bigger since folks now know each other and share ideas over lunch,” says Rikard. The program was so popular that it entered its second round a year later, in November 2022. This time around, there were two additional Change Agents and 33 participants – among them Rikard, who is already looking forward to the exchange with a younger GF colleague from the tool shop. “I’m excited to learn more about the department’s production technologies,” he says.