Company Culture Takes Flight: Key Learnings from the M&IW Summit
As we emerge from the pandemic, issues like culture, engagement, trust, and talent retention are more acute than ever. That’s why we were thrilled to welcome Eagle’s Flight as an Everest Sponsor at the 2022 M&IW Summit.
About Eagle’s Flight
Eagle’s Flight offers team building and learning experiences that are fun, engaging, and interactive. Their corporate events can be customized to help achieve a variety of goals, including…
- Driving adoption of key messages and learning.
- Improving engagement and motivation on the job.
- Increasing levels of collaboration and inclusion.
- Reenergizing your vision, strategy, or goals.
- Advancing the health and strength of your culture.
- Launching a major change or initiative.
Because the M&IW team has grown so much this year, we invited Eagle’s Flight to connect our team and introduce or reinforce our company culture as part of our Journey to World Class. On the employee-only Day 2 of the M&IW Summit, they led an experience called Promises, Promises.
Cultivating Company Culture
Promises, Promises works by dividing participants into “continents” and then into “countries” within the continent. The goal for each country was to have all their needs met every year and to make the continent a truly united League of Nations by the end of Year 5.
There were challenges along the way such as an inequity of resources and limitations on which countries could actually communicate. However, with coaching and guidance from Eagle’s Flight, not only were these challenges overcome, but participants came away with three key lessons:
It’s Not About Me, It’s About Us
In Year 1, countries were more focused on surviving individually than thriving as a continent. In the real world, that translates to putting your needs above everyone else—teammates, colleagues, even customers. Yes, customers are included in the “us” even though they’re external stakeholders because if their needs aren’t met, they won’t remain a customer, which hurts you and your whole organization.
To help switch to an “us” mentality, ask yourself these questions:
- Who do you rely on the most in your organization? Do they know?
- Who relies on you? How do you help them succeed?
- How do you contribute to the success of the whole? If you don’t know your value, then you’re not giving the most you can give.
Create a Year 5 Culture Now
By Year 5, each continent saw its countries working together, communicating effectively, and truly united. One continent was even fully united by Year 4! However, the ingredients for success were there from Year 1; it just took a culture shift to realize their potential.
Slowly, everyone learned that your ability to meet the needs of your external clients is only as good as your ability to meet the needs of each other internally. If even one country finished a year without all their resources, they challenged another country, putting their previously “safe” resources at risk. It wasn’t until there was a shift in each countries’ mindset from “me” to “us” that lines of communication opened, trust was built, and everyone’s needs were met.
You Are the Ambassador
The last lesson is as simple as it sounds: Cultural changes start with you. Take responsibility to help everyone succeed, not just you or your immediate team. Connecting back to the first lesson, great leaders ask if the environment they create fosters a “me” focus, which creates fear, or an “us” focus, which creates trust. And leaders aren’t just determined by title—everyone can lead by example and create the culture they want to see.
