Strong sense of “shared purpose” can do wonders!

India celebrated Diwali – the festival of lights in the week of 20^th Oct 2014. On this occasion, IDeaS Pune had organized a Bay Decoration Competition on 17^th Oct 2014. It was a group competition and the teams were free to choose a theme to decorate their seating bay area. On 16^th Oct, post working hours and on 17^th Oct, I witnessed one of the most amazing team event ever.

The team competition gave all individuals a strong sense of shared purpose. All the members grouped right on time and agreed on the theme. Once the shared purpose & goal was understood and agreed on, no one was a manager, architect, tech lead, senior, junior or intern; everyone was equal, everyone started contributing to the best of their abilities. There was so much of energy flowing around, so much of excitement, fun, open communication, collaboration and trust. They were having their informal “stand-ups”. No one had to be told what to do. Each member was able to figure out what to do next.

Slowly and steadily the bay was getting decorated. Members who are usually shy where all charged up and leading the effort in their own capacity. So many ideas were floating around and were getting converted into reality. Everyone was going the extra mile to ensure every detail was taken care off. Though they had little kids at home, members stayed back late night just to ensure their team accomplishes the goal. Not to mention, this was all happening without any one overlooking the shoulder to see if the work was being done or not.

Everyone was taking the ownership and everyone was being responsible for the quality of the deliverable.

That was an awesome sight! Such a wonderful hidden talent and so much of creativity!

Below is the G3 team Bay Decoration – The Village theme – They got the first price.