The New Year is a time for introspection and assessment, a time to reflect on the past year and recognize what we have accomplished and what we want to achieve. Over the past months, Norda Stelo’s employees have shown resilience and put forward the company’s values of innovation and adaptability so as to seize the opportunities that have presented themselves in this crisis context. Among these, the advent of teleworking and the creation of a collaborative platform have enabled us to evolve our work methods towards a more agile model of cooperation.
Norda Stelo was inspired by a component of the Agile methodology from the IT world: the Daily Scrum concept. A revised version of the Daily Scrums favoured by Norda Stelo, the scrum, is integrated into a new daily management system supported at all levels of the company. Each meeting brings together a maximum of ten people and lasts an average of 15 minutes. The first meetings of the day are held between the team leaders and their respective teams; this is followed by the managers’ scrums with their team leaders and so on, until the last meeting bringing together the members of senior management.
These scrums have proven to be an essential asset to the new work reality. Initially introduced with the intention of staying connected to employees and their respective realities, the scrums have proven to be beneficial to both the organizational and operational effectiveness of work teams.
The scrum and its advantages
Seriously human
Teleworking has its advantages: it breaks down geographical barriers, generates less travel, offers more flexible schedules, but it inevitably comes with a certain isolation. This loneliness affects individuals differently and can have significant effects on mental health. At Norda, this reality is at the heart of the concerns and, consequently, of the implementation of scrums.
Having an appointment each day, where you are expected and where you will exchange with your peers, allows you to break the isolation and to feel part of a whole despite the distance.
Touching testimonials from employees confirm the importance of these meetings in their daily lives. Much more than just another meeting on the schedule, this morning meeting strengthens team spirit and helps to determine the morale of the troops. Beyond the work discussions, it is the harmless exchanges generated during these meetings that make them seriously human. Whether it’s a new recipe for homemade bread or the latest video game being tested, these few minutes of discussion are essential to the spirit of cohesion that must be carefully preserved in this new way of working.
Efficiency and dynamic decision-making
The cascade of scrums in one day provides an accurate and up-to-date picture of the organization, a true screenshot of the day.
In fact, the questions, blockages and pitfalls reported in a meeting are more immediately addressed or flow up to the level of management able to address them, all in the same day. The same is true for the successes that can be highlighted in scrums, thereby promoting peer recognition.
This dynamic way of working sets the pace for the team, makes it possible to visualize the work progress on a daily basis and promotes collaboration. It also allows you to ask for or offer help to your colleagues and to assess the distribution of the workload in an informed manner.
The mobilization of participants generates a proactive energy that helps identify common objectives, quickly and efficiently resolve the issues raised and help make the right decisions.
These scrums have also brought closer together teams working in various physical locations. Colleagues who rarely spoke to each other because of the distance between their offices, now can interact daily. This proximity (virtual, it should be mentioned…) has made it possible to achieve greater efficiency within the teams while strengthening solidarity.
Ultimately, the scrums have resulted in a significant decrease in email volume. By exchanging daily, the need to communicate via email decreases. Needless to say, the adoption of appropriate collaboration technologies also contributes to this decrease. Let’s celebrate this trend that will finally allow us to use a dynamic and efficient communication channel rather than the static e-mail system.
By mobilizing the collective intelligence of its teams through scrums, Norda Stelo has embraced entrepreneurial agility and accelerated the achievement of the objectives of its strategic plan.
In 2021, let’s continue our collaborative and mobilization efforts to bring to fruition the large and small high-quality projects that make us proud.