Check out your Company Bowl for anonymous work chats.
At GVEC, we create connections and build relationships through employee communication platforms. That's why about two years ago we started our internal employee podcast, GVEC Unplugged! It's a fun podcast made for employees, by employees that allows us to connect on an array of topics. Our most recent episode Battle of the Generations at GVEC features guests from each of the generations as they go head to head to see how well each generation was represented. Millennials took the win on this episode but each of our guests had a blast having a friendly competition and learning about one another.
Last week, we wrapped up our annual employee health fair! GVEC is proud to be #DeliveringMore wellness initiatives to our team.
GVEC is proud to award 20 $2,500 scholarships to area high school seniors preparing to continue their education in college or trade school. We were happy to honor 17 of these recipients in person, once again, at our traditional scholarship luncheon which had to be suspended in 2020 and 2021 due limitations on public gatherings. Congratulations to our 2022 GVEC Scholarship winners!
As a leader, GVEC's General Manager and CEO recognized the potential to bring about a way of working that puts accountability—for everyone—in the hands of the people. The Outward Mindset gave GVEC a vocabulary to use to articulate and accurately identify challenges, obstacles and frustrations that prevented teams from being the best they could be. It's been 8 years since the inclusion of the program. Now, these once-new concepts are common and familiar. Our vision, mission and corporate values are firmly rooted and supported by the ideals to serve our members, customers and employees well. Embracing the training, coaching and results of an outward mindset enables GVEC to to this very well.
Film producer Robert Evans said, “There are three sides to every story—yours, mine, and the truth.” One of the core tools to being truly outward is seeing people as people. The only way to do this is to spend time with someone and get to know them as a person—not as your manager, not as your coworker, not as your adversary—as a person. The story of two bright and intelligent women that had been engaged in a cold-war of sorts for years, finally melts away when they realize how much they misunderstood about one another. Once fueled by outside influences and negative assumptions, their bitterness is now resolved and they enjoy a respectful work relationship and a sweet friendship. We work hard to encourage a culture of understanding, care and accountability. When an organization truly invests in their people in tangible and intentional ways, lasting change comes.
Studying the Outward Mindset in a classroom setting is always an "event" where the participants are engaged and enlightened. Taking the information and putting it into action routinely is a different story. Even, after knowing it for many years, some still have significant realizations through the sustainment courses. Supporting our teams and leaders with tools from The Arbinger Institute ensures GVEC can continue to reaffirm the principles and sustain the culture. After one such course, a leader was moved in the realization of how he was creating negative impact and immediately, with humility, addressed the team with his revelation and behavior change. He and his direct reports walked us through the story of what it was like to work for him and where they are now. Great change brings about great progress. #teamGVEC #outwardmindset
A great measure of success in our culture is seeing leaders eagerly accept and cultivate a better way of operating and seeing their teams rise to challenge! Honesty, trust and frequent communication is key in avoiding the pitfalls of healthy conflict in fast-paced environments where expectations are high.
This month, GVEC is celebrating "March Madness: a Month of Arbinger." We will recap how filming with the Arbinger team went along with how we've used the tools we've learned from Arbinger to help our employees create the GVEC experience we strive for each day. The sun rises on the first day of filming. The Arbinger Institute video team captured GVEC employees recalling their success stories since implementing the Outward Mindset philosophy. Some powerful transformations and inspiring reclamations have been hard won, and continue to win over people with a desire to make a positive difference in their work and world around them.
This week, The Arbinger Institute film crews spent some time around GVEC's service territory capturing employees' personal stories of how the Outward Mindset has benefited them, their department, and our organization as a whole. The footage will be used to create a training video for any organization that implements the Outward Mindset in their culture. We can't wait to see the final product!
Yesterday, many GVEC employees from each department spent the morning at our Western Operations Center participating in a winter tabletop exercise. In these exercises, emergency scenarios are presented and departments go over their responses and plans-of-action according to GVEC's Emergency Operations Plan. Having these emergency tabletop exercises twice a year is one of the many ways GVEC is #DeliveringMore to our members and customers. A big thanks to Bobby Christmas Senior Executive Manager - Compliance and Zach Taylor Executive Director of Engineering for putting this together for us.
