Culture Club - How Gaugies Celebrated Diwali Digitally This Year

It's just this aha moment for me that there's all these parallels. It's like, you know, when we're onboarding a customer, it's like onboarding an employee. Make sure they get the best experience beginning. Set them up for success. Check in regularly. When times get tight, check in more regularly. Something weird like Covid happens, and everyone's world has been rocked. This is the time to check in more, not less. You don't go, well, okay, I'll check back in six months when it's over. No, no, you check in more now than you did before because you need to make sure they're being taken care of and they're getting what they need.

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another.

Episode of the Account Experience podcast.

And let me be the first to wish everyone a Happy Diwali. This is one of Customer Engage's favorite traditions internally with great food and better company. This year, however, we did things just a little bit differently. Here's a hint. It involves our CEO and COO schlepping around Amsterdam to deliver food in person to our EU Gages and free delivered food to our US Gages.

In today's episode, we'll dive into a.

Few details on how your company can also keep culture alive in a digital first world and why celebrating is more.

Important now than ever.

Once again, Happy Diwali, everyone. And let's dive on into the latest episode.

I'm here as always, with my co host, Carrie T. Self. Say hello, Carrie.

Hello, everyone.

And today, guys, it is Friday, and we are feeling good. And I'm going to get into why that is. Previous episodes, we talked about employee experience.

With our co founder and coo, Camilla Scholten.

And today, or actually tomorrow, technically, right, Carrie is Diwali. And we did something kind of special.

Here at CG that we figured we'd.

Share because I know there's a lot of companies out there that are struggling to maintain culture across a digital world. Now, with COVID everything like that, we, um. And Diwali was one of those celebrations that we always celebrated at the office. We are, you know, based out of Amsterdam, Netherlands. We have a huge multinational team all over the place. Different countries, different cultures, and Diwali is one of those things that we all just get together and celebrate. So with that being said, I'm gonna pass it over to Kerry to kind of set the stage and talk about what happened today.

Yeah, you know, and I think you did a good job. This is. We have a challenge right out of the gate. Like, I think A lot of companies nowadays, you have people all over the world. Let's even dump the whole Covid thing and working from home thing. But we're challenged. We work remote. We got people in different parts of the globe. The world's becoming smaller, but the distance of our office has been spread out even further. So really to bring us together and to continue to celebrate this, because we couldn't all be into one room and share the same meal, what we decided to do is, well, why don't we.

All stop at the same time?

And with a six hour difference, that means some people are eating a late lunch, some people are having an early breakfast. But we thought it would be great if we could kind of have that meal. So our coo Camille, and our CEO Adam, they actually packed their car with Indian treats, baked goods and meals, soups. And they literally drove around Holland dropping these meals off to all the employees starting last night through this morning so they could all have a meal ready to go for our lunch together as.

A group over here.

Because driving over here is not a possibility. And getting a good Indian meal at seven in the morning is not easy. We actually set up some delivery food for the team. We gave everyone allowance. They got to order what they wanted and, you know, and again, we'll break this down a little bit more, but it was really neat. We all kind of got on together. We literally logged on together and began this festival of light celebrating it as one team. And again, I always get emotional, so if you hear my voice crack to this just a little bit, it's not because it's Friday and I'm tired, but it's one of those moments of working in a company where, you know, we show the importance of the whole of the team. So are we gonna show pictures? What are we gonna do here? You know, we can give somebody.

Yeah, we can kind of show.

Yeah, let's.

Let's show them a couple quick pictures. We'll share the screen. And just so everybody's, you know, aware of what we've done in the past. So obviously we have a nice little happy Diwali. These are some images of us celebrating Diwali in the past. So again, everybody gets dressed up, there's a big meal. I know during COVID this probably gives people anxiety now with all of those people around the table. But this was obviously pre Covid. But obviously it was a huge celebration. It was one of those things everybody looked forward to every single year. This year this isn't finished. So I know my graphic designer shout out to Taylor is going to kill me for showing this live on air here. But this is kind of what we did digitally, right? So we had breakfast, as Kerry said. Um, but we're on a big zoom, and you can see it right here. I mean, this is only half of the people. Not even half. It's less than half. Uh, but it was a lot of fun, and we tagged it right in with our trivia. So another thing that we maybe haven't talked about too much on this podcast is once Covid happened, we were trying to figure out a way to kind of stay connected. And a lot of the teams that have a really good sync, we're meeting every morning, Whether it be five or 10 minutes or, you know, 30, 40 minutes, it was every morning. And they just made everybody feel closer on that team. So what we did as an organization, we started doing a daily trivia, and that is 15 to 20 minutes every single day. With Kahoot, everybody logs in. We keep track of score. So you have bragging rights, but we would do, like, a 10 or 15 question kahoot. And it could be. I mean, Kerry, shout out some of the different types of Kahoots.

We do everything from complicated answers that have to be spelled out with periodic table elements. Okay, I just lost half the crowd there.

Perennial favorite right there.

We do maps.

We have to choose what, like, so we'll see an image of a map with no words on it and have to determine where it's at. Specific trivia, that's passions from some of ours, everything from photography and video games to mathematics, we've done.

I'm trying to think dad jokes.

Okay, today's Friday, so I'd be in big trouble if I didn't throw out dad jokes. So today, of course, no surprise, we did some Diwali trivia. And Trish, who you guys have heard a few weeks back on one of our most popular podcasts that I love doing with her, the Mythbuster one. She talked. She really guided us through this. And I think to add on to what Ian was saying, what really gives me chills when you're looking at these pictures and what you don't see, which hopefully we'll share and you'll find a way to see it, is the diversity of color, age, background, history. It's just when we open our zoom now every morning, beyond just the fact that we're just this really diverse group with different groups of talents, we look so diversely different.

And, you know, how can we not celebrate all these different celebrations? It's not just an excuse to eat. It's not just an excuse to take time off. It's really to celebrate the individuals that.

Make us the whole.

It was just really cool. I always get emotional when I'm looking at it. And then on top of that, there's a dog in the background, someone's kid is sitting in their lap. And these are all the things I think we've baked into. Ian, how many times have we been on a call, you know, and either either your dog or your kids run in and join the call, Right?

Yeah. I mean, it's a weekly occurrence at this point. And I don't know how everybody else feels, but I don't ever want to go back. Like, there's this feeling for me where. And I've talked to a couple people that before COVID when people had their. I'm going to call it a wall up, their professional wall, and you had to be professional all the time. And things, you know, had to be very specific in your Persona, whether it be online or in person. I think a little bit of that has eroded with COVID where, you know, you are in the situation of COVID and everybody's in it, and it's okay if your kid walks into a meeting every now and then, he's like, yep, this is. This is my son. And it's totally normal now. And I think that's an amazing thing. And I know there's a lot of other bad things that have happened during COVID but I take that away as one really positive result.

Yeah, I think I'm with you 100%. I like. It's a shame it had to be so painful to have these kind of things happen. I completely agree, but I'm with you. I don't want this to go away. I want this to be a norm now.

I want.

And it's not about being casual. It's about being personal. It's about embracing what makes each of.

Us individual and who we are.

Yeah. I think that's what was really special about the Diwali pieces. We did a Diwali trivia, which was basically a history of Diwali, and everybody has a better understanding of it now, which is really cool. And I think back to Adam and Camilla. So Camilla was on. You guys listen to the podcast about talking specifically about how she operates the Experience Program. We survey employees once a month. At this point, it might go to quarterly. Now, I'm not quite sure where that's at, Kerry, but I think it's been once a month since COVID It was once a week there for a little bit. But we have a pretty robust employee experience program where we get the feedback, we listen, we communicate results, communicate actions as a result of the feedback. But this is just another example of Adam, and they wouldn't ever toot their own horn about this. So I think it's our job to maybe bring it to the forefront so everybody can get an example of how to do it properly. But they went door to door. I mean, they literally went door to door and delivered food, and in a socially distance, respectable way, just to throw that out there. But, I mean, they went. The COO and the CEO went door to door and met every single person on the EU team. And there were some really cool stories about, you know, One of the CSMs has a dog that just fell in love with Camilla and didn't want to leave Camilla. And, like, they had a big kind of. I don't know, it just seemed like everybody was a little bit closer as a result of that. And a lot of people were touched. And we had. We heard a really nice story from so Robbie, who's, you know, Indian. And she said that Diwali is basically something along the lines of one of the traditions of Diwali is go door to door and give out food or gifts. And she's. And she can't be home right now, obviously. Right. So. And that really made her feel home at work, which is a weird thing to say out loud, but I don't know. Kira, what are your thoughts on that? I thought that was a really cool moment today.

Yeah.

And I. And I'm going to break the warm and fuzzy just for a minute. I think it's our responsibility to do this, Ian, but you guys aren't hearing this. There is a parallel. There is a mirroring of what we do with accounts and customers and what we do with employees or team members, whatever you want to call that. And I think what works for a customer works for your team and vice versa. And I think if you're not doing it on one side and you're doing it on another, something's gonna fail, something's gonna break down. A couple of reasons.

Number one, if you're doing it really.

Well with your customers and you don't do it with your team, there's resentment. They see it. They can't figure out why I'm not as important as that. And they're both equally as important. Right. We've talked about this numerous times, Ian, but this whole experience of just trying to really reach out and bring us together and. And Listen to the feedback and then look at the data and then help be strategic to help us grow our organization. It's exactly what we do with our customers. And it's just this aha moment for me that there's all these parallels. It's like when we're onboarding a customer, it's like onboarding an employee. Make sure they get the best experience beginning, set them up for success. Check in regularly. When times get tight, check in more regularly. If something weird like Covid happens and everyone's world has been rocked, this is the time to check in more, not less. You don't go, well, okay, I'll check back in six months when it's over. No, no, you check in more now than you did before because you need to make sure they're being taken care of and they're getting what they need. And then the special gift when we bring on a new customer now, we send out a little welcome package and emails and we celebrate them. Why not do the same for your team? And I just see more and more parallels of that. So I think that was my big thing today. And, you know, for those that have listened and heard the story, Camilla shared that I think Ian brought it up and it was an emotional moment. We were two or three months into this Covid work from home thing. No one knew what the hell is going on. We are all feeling a little beat up because we are working longer days.

You know, we're given more of our time, we're trying to make it work remotely. And a knock on the door comes and there's this beautiful basket of baked goods with a handwritten note in there. And I seriously was emotional. Like, I seriously, I'm emotional over almost everything. You know, a good commercial can get me teary eyed, but this really rocked my world. Like, this is exactly what I needed. And this is what I can say. Whether you're talking about your customer or your employees, it's not a lot of money. It's not a huge investment. You know what it is? It's effort. It's time. Yeah, a little bit of time. But it's just the fact that you stop long enough to say you are important and let me show you how important you are. And you know, today was just another one of those moments. It was just such a nice gesture. It was fun. And yeah, on the flip side, it was a lot of work for Camilla and Adam. They did put a lot of effort to go door to door. But what comes on the backside of that, loyalty, commitment, retention, you know, growth These are all the things you're looking for in a company.

We're also looking for in our team members.

Yeah. And I think you nailed it, man. Where it's sometimes the emotional impact, it's not necessarily the super complex xyz. It can be a simple gift that takes effort. Like you said, effort is really the. It's not hard. It just takes effort. It takes someone doing it and putting maybe half their day aside and going to send this package out or this, you know, door to door thing that Adam Camilla did. It's effort. You're right. But I'm a pretty strong proponent of those things. Go a lot longer than people realize, especially on the customer side. Right. Like that welcome packet. Carrie, you and your team put together a really great welcome packet full of, like, goodies. There was a mug in there, there was a T shirt, there was stroopwafels to represent Amsterdam. There was lanyards jackets, and it was all in this nice box with a handwritten card. And we sent it to our newest clients for the month. And again, I think that is something that not too many people do. I think it happens actually more on the prospecting side, believe it or not. Like when you're trying to get a new customer. But once you sign that ink, right, you sign on that dotted line, I think most companies are like, yeah, yeah.

We got our money.

All right, hands off, let's go on.

To the next one.

And I think that's where a lot of companies go wrong. That is an opportunity.

That is a huge opportunity to not.

Only reinforce the fact that they made a good choice, but to delight and really solidify that relationship as a partner, strategic partner in your business. And you do that through that emotional connection with that single contact. I think that's underestimated by a lot of companies out there. So thanks for bringing that up. That's a really good point.

And I think it. I might. Here I go. Here's my meta moment for the week. But you put a physical representation, you take something that's tangible and you apply that to the relationship up until that moment. It's contracts, it's signatures, it's video conference calls, it's money in the bank. Some people might say it's very tangible. I never touch any of that. Right. But there's something about receiving that water bottle or that treat or that T shirt, and nothing gives me greater joy than that thought of someone opening. We always get a thank you email right after we always get on the next call and see the person wearing it with pride. And you know, I think, I know people call it swags or I've heard, I've even heard it called other stuff, like crappy giveaways or whatever. But I don't know, there's just this way of saying you are important enough, important enough for us to stop what we're doing and put forth some effort to show you that. And yeah, I'm with you. And I think that's, it's the emotional reaction from that and connection that comes off of that. And you know, I've seen it in all places. I think, I think what was really inspired, I think you shared one too. You know the podcast where, let's be honest, did the podcast, it's done. Thank you. But then you get this nice little thank you afterwards of a few pieces and it's like how much, how much.

That transcending value of those couple of items because they manifest and represent effort.

And time in you.

This episode of the Account Experience Podcast.

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Shout out to Ethan from the Customer Experience Podcast, our sister podcast. We're not related in any way, but we're the Account Experience Podcast. So I guess that's kind of related. But yeah, that was a great experience. I was on his podcast and he sent me a little gift bag with books and stickers and a T shirt that was a little too small for.

Me, so I gave it to my wife.

But it was still a really nice gesture. Right? But back to the main purpose of this podcast is driving employee experience. Celebrating culture digitally is still very, very much possible. Even though part of our thing was, you know, physical delivering food, we still celebrated digitally. And it felt like a Diwali celebration. Now, I've been here five years. You've been here a year. A little bit more, actually right now at this point. Yeah, but it's a celebration that is like everybody looks forward to it, that the Chinese New Year celebration, July 4th. It's like we have a couple key moments throughout the year, and this didn't really feel that different.

In a weird way, it felt tighter.

This year because we didn't, you know, we celebrate separately last year, both offices, but this one, we were all in one spot, which was, you know, a zoom call. But yeah, I really want to hit that home, is that it's still possible. In fact, it's in some ways better than it ever has been. And Carrie, I know you love to end these things with kind of like a final thought or recommendation. So let's hear it.

Yeah. Yeah. You know, I think again, and I want to get better at doing this for everyone. I want to say, where can you start? Start small. Do something. If it's not a zoom call with meals for everyone. You know, trivia came out of just a necessity of worrying about People, and we just stopped for five or ten minutes every morning and we do a kahoot and we create our own quizzes. There's not a huge dollar investment in.

This except for five or ten minutes.

If you can't tell me that your people aren't worth five or 10 minutes a day, five or 10 minutes a week, I think you got bigger issues on your hand that you need to work through.

Right?

But start small. Put out a message, have someone step up and share. Celebrate something of the day. What can we celebrate from yesterday? Our goal yesterday was X dollars. We hit this. We talk business too. But start with something small and build on that and let tradition take over. Let your team tell you what it is they loved and didn't like and adjust the next time. And then also, don't let fear stand in your way. I know we talked about this a lot, but sometimes we're afraid to get started because we don't know how it'll be received or whatever. Adam and Camilla might be combined put in 12 hours of work on their side. People say, wow, 12 hours for a 30 minute Zoom call. But if you think about that, multiply that 30 by every employee and it greatly outweighs the 12 hours that Adam and Camilla put in to do that. And they worked really hard. But I think the impact is just not even being able to be measured. And I think that's what keeps us loyal, that keeps us connected. So, yeah, even the simplest gesture, and as crazy as it sounds, try it. You know, it's a crazy zoom call. Bring a guest speaker in, play a funny YouTube video, whatever it is that brings your team together.

Try something, get feedback on it.

Start with dad jokes every Friday. Dad jokes. It's the stupidest thing. But yeah, I mean, it's amazing. So everybody looks forward to it. Yeah. Really nice summary on that, Kerry. Thanks for that.

Let's end here.

So you guys are listening to the Account Experience podcast. Thanks again for joining us. Happy Diwali to everybody out there and we'll talk soon.