Brief
In June 2017, the multinational pharmaceutical firm Almirall tasked us with devising an engaging workshop session to share updated core values with their workforce. The company had shifted their focus to dermatology and finding effective treatments for skin disease. The evolved strategy required a new corporate identity, renewing its brand, and corporate values.
Based in Barcelona but with offices across Europe, Almirall required a solution that would allow them to share their updated core values with employees across six branches. Employees would need to not only understand these values but also apply them to situations. Rather than a competitive game, Almirall was keen for the quiz to spark discussion, to enable them to understand how individuals were adapting to the changes.
A very creative way of generating useful employee insight to move the organisational culture forward.
Delivery
We developed a workshop structure that allows the company to self-run sessions for up to 40 staff, broken down into smaller teams of five. The game takes the form of a quiz, built around the company’s revitalised values. Teams are provided with a gaming board, dice and tablet on which to input answers to the questions. The colour of the space the team lands on dictates the type question they answer.
The grey squares quiz the team on the history of the company and its products. The blue asks questions about the company’s new values. Finally, the black squares pose a dilemma, asking teams how they would behave in a concerning situation. A combination of open and multiple-choice questions gives the participants the chance to clarify their answers, and to consider different possible outcomes.
Almirall prepared 19 “ambassadors” in different countries and areas for supporting the launch and disseminating the new corporate identity. The ambassadors were trained as a facilitators to deliver the game, with support coming directly from Green Hat People to solve any technical issues. The game itself has been designed and tailored to the company’s specific values and is accessible via a web app. This gives Almirall the flexibility to hold their sessions in any venue, depending on the requirements of their employees.
Easy to implement to all levels of the company and easy to use, intuitive, didactic and fun.
Outcome
Almirall has so far held over 40 self-run meetings, with the remaining workshops to be staged in early 2018. Feedback from individuals has been incredibly positive. Teams have evidently been comfortable with the familiarity of the board game structure, while still felt challenged and educated by the questions asked and dilemmas posed. This combination of fun and challenge is what makes events such as these so valuable.
Most importantly, it has given Almirall a clear indication of how well their workforce is adapting to the company’s new direction, and what areas might still need addressing. At the end of each two-hour workshop, employees have been debriefed and asked how they feel the session went, and what they felt needed further discussion. This critical feedback has not only helped to evolve the workshop structure, but also the strategic direction of the organisation as a whole.
The game encouraged us to care about the responses of the entire group.We were dynamic in our approach to the game and dedicated to completing it well. We are now experts in the new company values
