Day 9-10 – So what exactly am I doing here anyway?

Week 2 – where the bulk of my “real” work will happen before we move into week 3 and the transition/handover phase. Halfway through the (short again) work week and I am knee-deep in executing on my mandate of Culture Change Agent for MAS Intimates.

But what does this actually mean? And how do you change culture in 11 days? Short answer – you don’t. However the primary objective of Uniterra volunteers is to focus on knowledge transfer and capacity building. So in my case, how can I prepare the team here to lead culture change in their organization and ensure their employees – and senior leaders – are not only aware of the change, but onboard and invested in making change happen!

Given my short time here, I am working on two key deliverables:

1. Delivering a “Change Management 101” workshop to the culture change project leads, using a “train the trainer” methodology which will equip them to then train their respective teams and colleagues. This includes designing activities and resources for them to experience during our workshop, use in their own workshops moving forward and also leverage as they continue on their change journey.
2. Developing an employee communications and engagement plan to guide the project leads through introducing, implementing and achieving adoption of the desired culture change across the organization. This includes outing strategies and tactics for engaging and motivating employees, involving employees in the change process, and learning to be agile and pivot as needed. This also includes introducing and teaching templates and tools they can utilize as they execute this plan over the next two years, as part of their 2021 strategic plan.

That pretty much sums it up. I’m currently at the stage where the communications and engagement plan is drafted and ready for input from the project team later this week. After Tamil Thai Pongal Day tomorrow I’ll be shifting gears to focus on preparing for the change management workshop which I’ll be holding on Monday.

In the meantime, enjoy this sunny view of the office parking lot, and specifically the number of trees and plants they have incorporated into this space!