Great companies need great people. At Impact Enterprises, we realize that for us to provide the best possible outsourcing services, we need the best possible Data Specialists. But hiring promising individuals alone isn’t enough. We need to work as a team every day and always look to a better future.
Heated discussions amongst the employees
As part of our mission of providing valuable employment to Zambian graduates, our employees participate in weekly workshops based on monthly themes. Last month, we dove into the idea of teamwork. We challenged everyone to think about the value of working together and having a shared goal.
Discussing the principles of teamwork led us to realize that working together allows us to accomplish two things: the task gets done and the group satisfaction remains high. This means we use our diverse backgrounds to tackle problems comprehensively while inspiring ourselves both in the moment and for the future.
For our workshops to be most effective, we try to apply the general principles to our everyday lives. And the situation presented itself in full force.
The middle of April saw our town of Chipata lose power for 6 days. While we were running on backup generators and secondary internet, the town was struggling to repair a blown transformer. At one point, water pumps throughout town stopped functioning all together.
To close out the month, we provided our employees a not-so-unfamiliar scenario. Their imaginary town of “Chitapa” had a power failure and was now without power. Everyone was split into groups, representing two parties: the town council and the electrical company. With angry townspeople gathering in a mob, how would they solve the crisis?
At the end of their half hour discussions, the groups had to present their strategies to each other. What started as a lighthearted discussion soon swelled into a boisterous debate about political infighting, communication breakdowns, and tough decisions.
This team gave the best solution and demonstrated great teamwork
The short amount of time only allowed groups to scratch the surface but everyone quickly learned how integral teamwork is in a complex situation.
Our work culture, while new and evolving, is a critical part in our continuing journey of being a leading technology company in Africa. By fostering lively debates about these core workplace skills, we are enforcing a cohesion that will last with our employees for years to come. They move away from a mindset of individualism to a collective goal working as one company.
Most importantly, they are discussing topics in a new detail that forces them to think critically about the world around them. While we want them to share a unified purpose here at Impact Enterprises, we see them as the future leaders of tomorrow. Envisioning solutions to the problems that affect their everyday lives gives our employees a responsibility over their futures.
By putting them in difficult situations, whether it’s solving a power crisis or learning a new data management project, they come to understand that they can’t accomplish their goals on their own.