Nurturing a culture of knowledge sharing

Sergio Avalos
Aug 31, 2018 · 3 min read

My transition to SafetyCulture was relatively simple; when I joined, I was informed that this company was also following The Spotify Model, where the company talent is divided into small autonomous teams, ranging from 5–10 members of diverse skills, who are wholly responsible for specific application features. The main objective of this autonomy, is to enable them to make local choices, move fast, learn rapidly and iteratively improve.

While this model keeps up with its promise, it also presents some challenges like creating silos and/or making it more difficult for great engineers to collaborate. No doubts the creators of this model predicted them and proposed social rituals like Tribe Gatherings, or my favorite, Lunch and Learns, which I borrowed as soon as I joined SafetyCulture and started my new adventure.

“The main objective of this [is] autonomy”

It started approximately a year ago and it has continued to evolve since. But until recently, I started to notice an interesting pattern that awoke among my colleagues and that I would like to share here.

It became more about the sharing and less about the learning

My first intention was to present a video of a past conference that we all could watch with some pizza and discuss afterwards, but this approach didn’t generate much excitement; finding a common topic wasn’t easy and, without the interaction of a present speaker, it can become boring at times.

So I stopped searching for videos and started searching for speakers from within the company. I invited Roger Chapman and that really got everyone’s attention; his team had developed an amazing app, Spotlight, which many knew little about it and were craving to know more.

After that, I started to approach different teams, especially those I was not familiar with and, to my surprise, everyone accepted without hesitations.

Now it has come to a point where others started approaching me instead of me recruiting them. That’s when I realised it became more of a forum than an informal workshop; many thought more about what they can share rather than what they could learn.

Started with team leaders and conferences attendees

Giving a presentation is not easy; not only public speaking can be daunting for some, but it also requires time to prepare material. Therefore, the first people I asked were those who a) feel comfortable talking to masses, and b) who probably had already presented a talk to other audiences and had everything ready to do it one more time. Likewise, there were others who recently attended a conference and were full of new ideas worth sharing. Thanks to them, it created a habit and a great example to others to follow the lead.

Pick videos that will trigger open discussions

There were of course some busy weeks where videos were the easiest resource, and I couldn’t stop myself from using some to touch upon our weak points. So if there was an aspect that needed to be improved, it would bring up ideas and ignite discussions. Since SafetyCulture is all about honesty and open communication, I can assure that these talks were very rewarding and meaningful.

It all starts with the right culture

To be honest, driving an event like this in a company that is so embodied in its values is ridiculously easy; I didn’t need to convince my managers when I proposed it. “Whatever you need Sergio!” They replied. Same goes for my colleagues; it surely was challenging and time consuming for them to get ready for a presentation, and yet they accepted with no hesitation. Thanks to them, now I see more people ready to jump onto the stage.

“[it] is all about honesty and open communication”

In conclusion, Lunch and learn has helped us not only for learning and getting to know each other, but also by giving everyone a platform to step up and share their awesome projects. Likewise, it has become a de facto forum for announcements and triggered discussions that may be more difficult due to the way our teams are organised. Lastly, its success is mainly due to the fantastic support of those who lead by example and jumped onto the stage and the company who has promoted a very collaborative environment, not only with this event, but also with other activities like ShipIt


Are you looking for a mission that nurtures a culture of knowledge sharing? Explore a career at SafetyCulture.

SafetyCulture Engineering

Building something that truly impacts people's lives

Thanks to Kevin McHugh

Sergio Avalos

Written by

SafetyCulture Engineering

Building something that truly impacts people's lives

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