Award-Winning Culture Change

For me, last year ended on an amazing note. Our client, Brighton & Hove Buses/Metrobus received an award for culture change from the UK Bus Awards with our dramatized storytelling the main factor cited by the judges. Congratulations!

Innovative Training Content

The content we produced together was threefold. A series of short comedy clips titled Drive Like Dom designed to reduce collisions. An overconfident foolish driver gives his opinions on the causes of collisions and it never ends well. Like all our Drama for Change work, it’s designed to stimulate conversation. And we gave these videos an extra boost in that respect by creating Gogglebox-style versions of the clips titled “Gogglebus”, to keep the conversation going.

A short film titled “You Can Make a Difference” was produced about sexual harassment in the workplace. Once again, it is not designed to tell people what to do, rather by bringing the audience into discussion about a grey are - is sexy banter acceptable? – it encourages thoughtful exploration of the subject.

Finally, the Meeting Customer Needs and Expectations CPC Course. The previous version of the course was delivered live, based around a series of dense PowerPoint slides. We took the course apart and looked at it from the point of view of a series of principles around which facts can be hung. That enabled us to make the core of the learning a series of dramatized video clips that brought the principles to life by depicting everyday dilemmas.

Empowering Through Discussion

Training Manager Nick Strudwick gave us his take on the approach:

“As an organisation we can't just provide our drivers with a rule book for every possible situation or scenario. We are relying on developing our driver’s discretion, and empowering them to actually make the decision that's right for the customer and right for the company at the time. So, promoting discussions with other drivers increases their bank of possible solutions to issues.”

“Our, instructors, who are now more facilitators, really enjoy delivering the courses. Because actually, their job now is to is to guide the drivers through the content rather than force the content down the drivers’ throats ?- so that's really useful. And yes, it's very much bringing our training into the 21st century”

Impact on Workplace Culture

Engaging individuals in discussions about their daily decisions is a powerful catalyst for cultural change. Addressing the informal organisational culture is essential for meaningful transformation.

I suspect this is why the video drama, despite not being commissioned with a culture change brief, was recognised for its effect in this respect.

Looking Ahead

Brighton & Hove Buses/Metrobus kindly allowed us to film testimonials about the award. I'll be sharing these over the next few months, along with further insights into the projects and methods.

Happy New Year, everyone!

#DramaForChange #CultureChange #buses #transport #training #learning #UKBusAwards