Developing conversation culture as part of a merger
Developing the conversation culture became topical when Aava & Bang went through a merger in which two agencies joined together. Hanne-Mari Miskala, HR Director of growth marketing agency Aava & Bang, says that a period of intense change lies behind them: new ways of working have been defined and the organisation has been restructured. It has been their custom to hold a kick-off with the entire staff twice a year, seeking a unified direction for the coming six months.
When you bring together 80 experts, people can have different ideas about what matters most right now. "We wanted to get onto the same map about what is going on and what is now most critical to focus on. We wanted to give people the feeling that views and opinions matter. And of course to find ways for everyone to build the shared direction from their own role", says Hanne-Mari Miskala.
Topaasia enabled a feeling of participation
At Aava & Bang they ended up combining several decks from Topaasia's game selection so that the topics important to the work community could all be addressed. The need was especially to focus on development, the customer perspective, ways of working and people.
Topaasia's purpose is to enable conversation within the desired frame and steer it towards the concrete. "People had a strong experience of participation and a feeling that their own perspective was heard. In contrast to traditional conversation or development work, Topaasia frames the context in which the discussion takes place and helps prioritise things. A strong shared view emerged of what to focus on. We took the conversation to a different level from what we were used to and got deeper, to the essential matters”, states Hanne-Mari.
Topaasia gives everyone a voice. Playing generates conversation, and the game guides it so that people stay firmly on topic. According to Hanne-Mari, that is one of Topaasia's key values: in addition to the game strongly surfacing development issues, it builds commitment to the development actions, since the actions have emerged from your own crew.
The end result after playing?
The purpose of playing is to help identify the most important issue emerging as a development target. Based on this issue, a concrete action plan is drawn up, including the people responsible and a timetable for carrying out the plan.
The end result at Aava & Bang was clarity. "The logic of the game meant that at the end you feel clear-headed: you know what to focus on now. In a way it is a relief that, faced with countless development ideas and things to improve, it is actually obvious what to tackle next”, Hanne-Mari sums up the outcome.
"Through playing, it became concrete how even big changes are made up of tiny little steps. It creates motivation to carry out the small actions when you know you are moving the essential things forward.” , Hanne-Mari Miskala.
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Growth marketing agency Aava & Bang: https://bang.fi