The Rain
I sit here staring out the window, the sky has turned grey
I can feel the wind pick up, it’s starting to rain.
The rain. The rain falls evenly.
There are children running, shouting with joy
Parents trying to catch them under umbrellas, looking annoyed
But the rain. The rain falls evenly.
The trees look happy, swaying and smiling with arms open
While cars stuck in traffic are cursing the commotion
But the rain. The rain falls evenly.
Some might be smiling, enjoying the weather,
Others might be sulking, waiting for the sky to get clear
I contemplate stepping out or sitting in the dry,
The world keeps turning, time passes by
But the rain. The rain falls evenly.
Four of us who turned 5...
Last month four of our teammates completed 5 years at Wisdm. What makes the 5 year mark special? It speaks of their contribution and support over the years. And their investment in the “Wisdm” brand.
Did you know Paresh Shinde from the services team started out as a front-end developer, he’s now a senior backend developer and a prime example of someone who takes up ownership – his SOTQ (Star of the Quarter) nominations are proof.
His teammate Anuj Kamble, also reached his 5 year mark. Anuj is someone who’s on the quieter side, but can speak up when needed. In fact, he’s even suggested ideas we should take up around new services and products. If you ever catch him on a call, strike up a conversation about movies or documentaries!
Sumugh Nair, was also a developer in the Services team, but is now a part of the Business Development team – as a Solutions Expert. His superpower? Creating a solution plan for a client’s requirement. And of course, winning deals by keeping client success in mind.
Ravi Sharma (well, should’ve said all four are from the Services team :D) is a senior developer too. If you’ve heard of Ravi, you also know he’s a talent powerhouse because he’s an amazing artist. And of course, like all others in this list, he’s always helpful.
Experimentation is Key!
If you’ve heard/experienced even a little about the culture at WisdmLabs, you know that you’re encouraged to openly give suggestions and try out new ideas. We also have teams who are dedicated to research and coming up with new offerings.
For example, the New Initiatives team has come up with Reachsy.io a platform using which businesses can automatically collect reviews.
We also have people from the Products tech team working on several new ideas, a couple of which were presented last week – an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) tool, presented by Abhay Vishwakarma and Deepak Naidu. And the Page Speeds insight tool presented by Kumar Rajpurohit.
If you have new ideas, or want to understand more about these tools or what the team does – do reach out to them!
Are we only as good as our culture?
Here's a story...
Once upon a time, in the kingdom of Kolbad, there lived an ambitious King. His goal was to make Kolbad the best state in all of Thaneland.
Unfortunately, the people of Kolbad couldn’t care less. They were unruly, rushing everywhere, and being rude.
The King tried introducing reward schemes to get them to behave well. But nothing worked. When the scheme was new, people used to be motivated for a while, but then they would fall back to old practices. They were creatures of habit.
Victims of a poor culture.
One day, the King’s advisors suggested he try something different. Bring to the people a“purpose”, they said. Give them a motive. Help them visualise the organized, cultured Kolbad that would be a result of their efforts. Imagine a place where there were no fights because of a traffic jam. A place where children could cross the road without being run over. Where businesses flourished and everyone had a chance to do something great.
This was a brilliant idea ♦.
Purpose is a huge motivator, the King thought. It was not only worth a try, it was important. He spent day night delivering speeches about the bigger purpose, about how small changes could make the kingdom better. We had to change our culture he said while watching the people nod with agreement.
This seemed to work. There were heated discussions about what could be done. People discussed ideas. Every day 1-2 ideas would be presented to the King. The King was happy. The culture was changing he thought. Soon enough, the ideas dwindled. Discussions lost momentum. The town went back to how it was. Though this time around some people kept at it, trying to bring change in others.
The King could see that people understood the need for change, they even understood the behavior that was expected from them. What they did not know was how to get there. The King looked around.
And then he noticed things he hadn’t before.
The bridge across the bigger river in town saw a lot of people crossing it all day. It was narrow and people used to bump into each other causing fights. Sure this example is a dramatized version of what was happening but you get the drift. Instead of expecting the people to simply “behave” well. The solution was apparent. The King had to build a second bridge to reduce the commotion. To ease traffic, he had to put up signals. To help children cross, he had to put up speed breakers. To help businesses flourish, he needed to introduce new policies.
Before this story gets boring let’s get to the point – akaTL;DR
We’re not as good as our culture. We’re as good as our systems.
The King knew that not speeches, not purpose, but systems. Systems were the path to success. And that’s the same anywhere. Whether it’s helping Kolbad become the best kingdom, or helping you meet your exercise goals, or helping us become the best company out there.
If we want to imbibe our values into the DNA of the company, we’ll need great systems, great processes, that make our lives easier, that make it simpler for us to act in accordance to our values. Culture is not left to chance or upto people, it has to be built in.
And we’re making every attempt to do so. You’ll get to hear more about the same… stay tuned. #wisdmvalues #mostvaluableteam