After reading the Delivering Happiness book, their top leaders invited Jenn Lim to Dubai to tell her story. They proceeded with an intensive DH Experience where they learned about happiness culture, the science of happiness, and positive psychology. “We were infected by this idea,” says Sofiya Akmesheva, Corporate Event Manager and later Head of The Happiness Department.
The DH Experience inspired their culture transformation program. Together, BI Group and the coach|sultants® developed what they called the BI Happy Challenge.
It was not an easy feat because DH coach|sultants® came into the organization during a change in leadership. The values of the two leaders had to meet in the middle, and they also had to align with the entire organization.
The DH team divided the project into phases. They began with the define phase, a very crucial part in order to assess the existing culture of the company and how happy employees were at work. The coach|sultants® refreshed the team’s values, established their behaviors, and validated them through a voting process within the entire company.
The next steps were to train and coach the culture ambassador team [CAT] in order to create and roll out the culture initiatives. DH held 3 workshops with the top 1000 leaders so they would be aligned and inspired, equipped with the tools they needed to lead by example. As a result, everyone would understand how to interact with each other and their customers and how to make decisions based on their values. They were confident that this would bring the company to a new level of high-quality interactions with customers and lead to even greater prosperity, and it did.
More recently, as a result of COVID-19, BI Group was forced to cut salaries and furlough employees. Right before they took action, they had a call with the DH team for a refresher on how to thrive through a crisis and how to leverage culture as a main pillar to adapt. They used the C.A.R.E. model [communication & compassion, awareness, respect, and empathy], in an effort to preserve loyalty and trust.
"We need to take care of our people through this tough period to keep productivity
and engagement up in this crisis." - Sofiya Akmesheva
In 2020, BI Group placed 3rd in FORBES Kazakhstan for employees branding attractiveness. The company also saw their employee happiness index score rise to 7 out of 10. This score is based on company pride, having friends at work, and how appreciated employees feel in their work environment.
The company experienced a 38% increase in “attractiveness” to students graduating from top universities worldwide.
“We believe it’s because we are giving them [graduating students] a sense of purpose and mission in their work. At BI Group they have the opportunity to do something bigger than themselves. It’s about meaningful work.” - Sofiya Akmesheva
Aligning their leaders around their transformation and vision, and defining their values to support their bold direction proved successful for living the kind of happiness internally that they were promising externally. BI Group employees became more optimistic and grateful for their positions, which allowed them to feel important and valuable.
"It was great to hear that our NPS score increased by 12%. Also, sales increased more than 20% in comparison to previous years. We need to take care of our people through this tough period to keep productivity and engagement up in this crisis."
When employees are happier at work, your business will thrive, and you will create more meaningful lives. That's why we offer virtual and on-site solutions designed for the individual and the team, so you can start thriving at work and in life.
