Being invested in our team – what I learnt

I knew that I needed specialist help with this, I wasn’t going to try to muddle through when it was so important to the future of the business. It’s something you only get one go at; if you get it wrong there’s no coming back from it. So, we brought in Initial CX to rethink our EVP from the ground up.

To ensure this was a fully collaborative process, we set up an internal team that consulted our colleagues alongside Initial CX. As you can imagine, there were many, many meetings.

But what the consultants did was to speak to people from across the business, to gain perspectives from colleagues at all levels – which was crucial.

Importantly, they listened, and in doing so they picked up from one member of the team the phrase ‘dynamic mutual’ to describe us as a forward moving organisation.

It fitted perfectly with who we are and our growth strategy.

Over the course of our conversations, they developed the concept of ‘invested’ which applies in so many ways to who we are and what we are about – we’re invested in our people and their wellbeing, we’re invested in innovation and we’re invested in personal development.

The concept meant so much to us as we sought to redefine our relationship with our team - who we want to be as invested in the business as we are in them.

Our values were re-envisioned to three words that encapsulate everything OneFamily is and everything we want our team to be – principled, courageous and effective.

But it wasn’t just words. We’re looking at career pathways so that people can visualise where their role could take them within the organisation – if they want to work in a different part of the business then we will support them in identifying the skills that they need.

We have a leadership development programme and a women specific development programme that seeks to grow confidence and build our talent pool from within.

We’ve also relaunched our rewards package which includes a medical cashback benefit and high-street discounts to encourage take-up by colleagues.

Recognition of those in the business who go that extra mile is crucial - the people who live our values - so there is now a way for colleagues to acknowledge their colleagues and we are launching an awards process too.

We’re also looking at a refreshed ED&I and Wellbeing policy to ensure that our colleagues feel listened to and comfortable to bring their true selves to work – and as part of this we’re setting up new diversity networks.

We recognise that we’re an organisation of diverse people, so we’re looking at people as individuals - who they are and what it takes for them to thrive, what is best for them and their particular set of skills, life experience and circumstances.

We want to make sure that people are in the right role for them, with the necessary skills that they need and that they are being remunerated appropriately.

It’s a big piece of work, that means looking at each and every job alongside performance management and then thinking does this work? What can we do better? But it’s absolutely crucial to getting the best from our team and, with this kind of project, you need to give it one hundred percent. There’s no room for half measures.