Introduction
“Culture brings people together, and bringing people together builds expertise.” This principle has shaped my career, particularly during my time as a consultant. While business success is vital, I’ve learned that a strong, supportive culture is equally essential for building a high-performing team. It’s the unseen force that transforms individuals into a cohesive and dynamic unit.
The Consultant’s Desire for Connection
“Throughout my consulting years, I had a deep passion for sharing knowledge and insights gained from various projects. I loved presenting code, discussing experiences, and exchanging ideas. However, I noticed that knowledge and experiences often remained within individual project teams, leading to a sense of isolation. While we had architectural patterns in place, the feeling of ‘reinventing the wheel’ was sometimes present.
Working on projects often meant being on the road, which could disconnect us from the larger organisation. It felt like a constant cycle of people coming and going.
For me, consulting was about building ‘awesome things’ and enjoying the process. Even now, as a manager, I still enjoy getting hands-on with technology. However, I longed for more interaction and knowledge-sharing with my colleagues.
We initiated a TGIF (Thank God It’s Friday) session, hoping to create a space for informal connection. We started small, but despite our efforts, it didn’t gain the traction we hoped for. We had company updates and evening events, which were interesting, but they didn’t provide the same level of deep bonding and technical exchange.”
A Shift Towards Community
“Our company underwent a significant change, transitioning to a model focused on hyperscalers—Microsoft, AWS, and Google—with specialised cloud, data, and software engineers. We also established an ‘Innovative Tech’ horizontal, supporting these hyperscalers with tribes specialising in software engineering, Elasticsearch, Atlassian and DevOps.
I was one of the consultants that was brought into a special program where we were asked to build an advice report on how our organisation could adapt to a new 4-year strategic plan. Not only the implementation but also how teams should be organised, how to build & nurture communities, etc. Because of the strong alignment with management during this project, the result was that management almost applied the complete advice report and executed nearly every part of it! One of the key points we made was to turn units into pillars, which was already in the direction management was thinking of, and have tribes as a horizontal community of expertise fields, with a tribe lead to facilitate, grow and nurture the community.
I was then promoted to Operational Manager of the DevOps tribe. My former Director introduced ‘Tech-Friday,’ a dedicated day for in-office collaboration and knowledge sharing. This was a dream come true for me. We worked on client projects in the morning and dedicated the afternoon to sessions on project experiences and new technologies. This initiative was a resounding success, fostering strong bonds and facilitating valuable knowledge exchange among consultants, partners, and clients.
As our tribe evolved, we recognised our focus on CloudNative solutions. We, as a tribe, decided to rename the tribe ‘CloudNative Platforms.’ This change sparked a powerful sense of identity within the team. Members felt a strong connection to the tribe, even more so than to the company itself. This taught me a vital lesson: identity is everything. Combined with a strong community culture, it fuels organic growth and self-sufficiency.”
The Power of Connection
“These experiences highlight the impact of culture and community. Supporting each other on projects and fostering a strong connection to the company is essential. Simple initiatives like company-wide breakfasts, in-office collaboration days, and online tech-sharing sessions make a significant difference.
Identity is paramount. When people feel a sense of belonging, they thrive. Coupled with a strong community culture, they deliver greater value to projects and clients.
Managers play a crucial supporting role, coaching consultants and fostering their expertise. As the saying goes, ‘Happy consultants = happy customers.’
In essence, investing in people by bringing them together regularly is highly important. Our CloudNative Platforms tribe, established in 2022, is a testament to this approach. It continues to grow and build strong connections and expertise.”
That said, we are not done yet! At this moment we created identity and a strong culture within the tribe. The next step starts now: Building culture across multiple tribes. To start this, we are now organising tech-fridays with other tribes. So this story is not done and will be continued.
Concluding Thoughts
“The most significant factor I observed was the organic development of a strong tribe identity. It was truly remarkable to see the team’s sense of belonging grow so intensely.
When fostering a community, it’s crucial for the business to invest and support these initiatives.
Consultants and engineers want to have fun, code, and make an impact. Building a culture that supports these desires is the key to success.
To close this article, a wise man once taught me an important lesson: happy consultants = happy customers. It’s true!
P.S. I wrote this blog while listening to Sega/SNES tunes on Spotify. #stillanerd #breakcore”