Para Executivos
Para Jovens
Companies often look to their culture if things go wrong, when it’s usually too late. At SICREDI Pioneira everything was going very well, the annual goals were met at the beginning of the second semester.
As a result, they were increased and once again surpassed, thus maintaining double-digit growth. The company was in fact already living a meritocratic, impartial, fair and humane culture, that is, it was already a case. Therefore, for anyone looking at it from the outside, making a diagnosis of organizational culture would sound like a waste.
However, one of the differentials that keeps the Pioneer ahead of the other unique features of the SICREDI system is the ability to anticipate the market and go beyond. With the intention of discovering if and how much the organization was prepared to remain robust and growing for the next 50 years, SICREDI Pioneira contracted the Culture Diagnosis with People & Results.
According to Clarissa Machado Pereira, head of People Management and project contractor, they chose People & Results for its ‘presentation of a very attractive project, the partner’s way of working, a very accessible value and past credibility’.
Sector – credit union
Geography – Rio Grande do Sul, 4 HUBs covering 39 locations
Head Count – 500
Sample heard – 30% + 2 groups of associates
Project duration – 3 months
To get to know the culture in depth, we observe the physical environment and relevant moments for 10 hours. In addition, we conducted 16 individual interviews, 14 focus groups and mapped the turnaround capacity of 13 executives. In summary, there were 2,990 reports that generated 81 recommendations and 6 key priority topics.
The results were presented to the board and also to the executive board, deployed in workshops for the teams and then followed by meetings to refine and prioritize the work fronts.
On top of that, Clarissa reports that ‘we worked with what was identified and from there we created alternatives for changes, the changes were the most diverse, people, behavior, strategy’.
After 3 years of the culture diagnosis, a new project is to come. The Pioneer, very diligent with her future, already wants to make a new diagnosis. She wants to map how much of what was nominated is actually being tweaked in the team’s DNA. So wait for the scenes of the next chapters!
At the time (2017) we were a 115-year-old organization. We had just written our Purpose (“Together we build better communities”), and we were at the beginning of a journey in the evolution of cooperative consciousness. And on this journey, in addition to Purpose, we miss another fundamental pillar to create a strong organization: the definition of our cultural values. We knew we had a strong, centuries-old culture. But we couldn’t translate, write, which is fundamental for the consolidation, sharing and perpetuation of an organizational culture. In this context, there is a need to make a diagnosis of our culture, with the main objective of translating it.
At the time, our GP area was looking for professionals for this service. We consulted the Sicredi Administrative Center, which is part of the Sicredi System, and there they showed us some possibilities. After talking with the indicated companies, we chose People & Results. And the choice was very much based on the curriculum, including international, experience in similar processes and the demonstration of mastery of the topic in the interview, especially due to objectivity, technique and frankness.
First, the diagnosis delivered the main order, which was the definition of our cultural values, which were later defined as “Simple, close, active and Together”, and which made and make a lot of sense in our organization, making it clear to us that these they have always been our values since 1902, we just need to “listen” and write. Second, it brought us the “anchors”, behaviors that held the speed of our cooperative. As Maria Candida said: “The Pioneer is a large ship that is heading in the right direction, but has anchors that hold its speed”.
Mainly the discovery of the 6 anchors. Anchors were very important for us to face structural gaps that we had and that we started to work on, citing an example: the low tolerance for error. We can say with certainty that working the 6 anchors pointed out in the diagnosis unlocked strengths, untied talents, and accelerated the cooperative, initiating the creation of an environment of psychological safety. Without fear of making mistakes, facing the anchors was the start to start our journey of creating a culture of innovation, which in 2021 is in full swing and advancing faster than we thought it would be.
Objectively discovering our cultural values and the 6 anchors. But in a subjective way, each meeting with Maria Candida was a profound learning about organizational culture. And in addition, practical classes on how to deal with seriousness, respect and depth, sensitive issues. How to really face problems to solve them. Sometimes there were encouragement classes to face the dilemmas. There were also classes on empowerment and positioning, making clear the role of leadership in this entire process.
In addition to giving the conceptual start and evidence about our cultural values, it was essential to start building an environment of psychological safety and which, in the continuity of our journey of the evolution of consciousness, has allowed us to foster a culture of innovation and an organization that has adopted a management model focused on Purpose and Conscious Business.
Open mind and heart to listen and welcome. Trust in Maria Candida’s technical competence and behavioral skills. And only start if you really want to transform the organization, because the work of People & Results is not for incremental improvement, it is for transforming.
CUSTOMER FEEDBACK After the project was completed, Clarissa declared that ‘me and the board, and all the people who were directly involved, we thought it was great, it was very palpable, the result of the diagnosis was linked to what we believe. Until today (two years after the presentation of results and recommendations) it is present in our daily lives. Many things are being built on top of this work’. According to her, ‘Maria Candida is a great partner for decision-making, always together with us, always supporting us to make the best decision, we are always supported by her’.
Among the points that most caught the attention of SICREDI Pioneira and contributed to the diagnosis is the mapping of the capacity for change of each one of the leaders, using the L.A.B.E.L., the differential of People & Results in relation to the market. The identification of each leader’s potential led to a redesign of the board, placing each executive in his/her best game position, which accelerated the results even more.
