#CalianAt40: Teamwork behind our success

Calian turned 40 this year and I’m using this milestone to share more about the work we do and what I envision for the future. This four-part series — #CalianAt40 — kicked off last month with #CalianAt40: Living our core purpose. Today, I’m sharing about the teamwork behind our success and how our people are key to helping our customers and the world move forward with confidence.?

I firmly believe the fabric of a company is its people. And I’m proud to say that at Calian, we have amazing people. Whether it's a doctor working on a military base, an engineer working on the latest satellite system, a cyber analyst protecting our customers’ cyber infrastructure, or a learning professional training the military for deployment, customers trust us when they can’t fail.

To me, that level of trust is driven by incredibly talented people who rise to the challenge each and every day. And that’s what we’ve got here at Calian—dedicated people who are powering our results and record growth. In fact, the momentum of the Calian team is moving us forward and driving us towards our goal of becoming a $1-billion company.????

Our people story is changing??

Calian began as a one-person firm in Ottawa, Canada. Forty years later, we now employ over 3,100 people globally across Canada, Europe and the United States, Pakistan and Brazil. Our people story is changing — from a domestic story to a global one. This shift brings enormous opportunity for us not only in the race for talent, but in our diversity and ability to bring new ideas to the table. ?

As CEO, I want to build a positive culture where people enjoy coming to work. It has been incredibly challenging over the last few years working through a global pandemic. During this time we achieved record results while answering our customers calls to do more. What I have learned is that business resilience starts with your staff; they rose the challenge when the odds were stacked against us. The Calian team continues to be a solid foundation for long term success. ?

What teamwork means to us??

Teamwork not only drives our success, but it’s the foundation of our culture. It starts with the nature of our work which is helping our customers solve complex issues across advanced technologies, health, learning, and IT & cyber solutions. The industries in which we work inherently require teamwork.???

In healthcare, working with Syantra to deliver a blood test for detecting breast cancer, is dependent on collaboration. At Calian Learning, we work with the Royal Canadian Air Force to distribute e-learning courses to virtually train the military. During the peak of COVID-19, we worked with the Government of Nunavut to send vaccines to communities in need through our #OperationRemoteImmunity team. There’s no doubt, such amazing feats take a team.??

To us, teamwork is about bringing together a wide range of skills as much as it is about kindness, caring, and empathy.??

Fostering self-compassion and kindness in a post-pandemic world??

Ensuring our growing global team is engaged, healthy and happy is extremely important. To do this, it’s critical to have perspective of what’s going on in the world and how it impacts our team. In the excitement of life returning somewhat to ‘normal’, we sometimes forget that we’ve just gone through 2.5 years of a global pandemic and it’s okay for us to say: ‘I’m not myself today’.??

As a leader, I never underestimate the power of checking in with people. While I typically prefer in-person check-ins, this has proven challenging due to COVID. In the interim, I host virtual town halls where employees can ask questions or share how they’re feeling.?

I even start some of my calls with, “Quick survey: 1 out of 10, how are you doing? With 10 being the best ever, and 1 being the worst ever, where are you at today?” Someone once said, “I’m a 6 faking an 8”, and I think we can all relate to that. I want to make sure people are comfortable saying, “I’m not okay,” and that needs to be part of our culture.??

Walking the walk??

I also understand my responsibility as a leader to set the tone for how our culture takes root. I must walk the walk, so to speak. People are watching what I do and I see this as an opportunity to create a healthy environment by leading by example.?

Vacations are a great way to do this. If I’m on vacation yet sending off emails every day, employees will notice and it sets the pace for everyone else. I never expect employees to work during their vacation and I would never want them to. Instead, I want to be seen prioritizing my health and wellness by being on vacation and properly unplugged from work.??

Future of teamwork??

As Calian continues to grow and scale, technology will certainly play a big role in how we work. Collaboration historically might have been primarily in-person, but with virtual team environments becoming the norm in a post pandemic world, we also continue to expand globally. Virtual work environments open up so many possibilities to share knowledge, learn from the best, and build transformational partnerships. Whether in-person or virtual, what remains the same is our values, our core purpose, and a culture which has been 40 years in the making. ?

In the future, we’ll continue to build our team, its diversity and work collaboratively inside Calian and with our partners to help the world communicate, innovate, learn and lead safe and healthy lives.??

Ultimately, effective teamwork delivers better solutions for our customers. At Calian, how we do business is just as important as the business we do. We are Calian, and we're just getting started. The future is bright folks.?

*** Please share a comment below:?What does teamwork mean to you???