Lifestory's team culture

By David Newey, Regional Development Director at Lifestory

“I can help with that”, “Why don’t you try this?”, “In my experience…”

As we continue the journey towards normality post covid, and once again we are filling our places of work, the most exciting observation I’ve made is the resurgence of the Lifestory Culture.?For me, it's one of the key factors, which makes working in our business so enjoyable and was certainly something I dearly missed when we were all working from home.??

I’ve had the good fortune of working across various teams and brands during my time with Lifestory, and whilst there are clear functional roles and defined responsibilities within those teams, what sets us apart is the mindset (culture) of being able to blur those lines and feel empowered to work outside of traditional department silos.

When Mark founded Anthology, one of the key cultural identities was that if you picked up a call/email from a customer then it was your responsibility to communicate with that customer and ensure they were happy with the response; accountability and customer service rolled into one.?The door handle that needed replacing might not have been replaced by you, but there was nothing stopping you ensuring that action was arranged, undertaken and communicated.?Whilst Lifestory Group is clearly a larger organisation and there are defined processes and procedures to follow, the same concept can still be applied to both external customers and stakeholders as well as our internal team.??

Overhearing the conversations taking place in our offices, I’m pleased to see that we have navigated through the “work from home” period with our positive culture very much intact.?I am also acutely aware, now having spent some time working in the sales team, that our sales teams often miss out on the natural osmosis-like effect of picking up a culture just by being present in an office.?Much like our Lifehosts this is purely a side effect of the job role and location, but it is incumbent upon us all to assist in breaking down these potential divides.?Making the time to visit our communities, not only helps make our team members feel part of our culture, it also allows them to truly experience the wonderful communities that our collective hard work creates.

I will end with the old proverb “a problem shared is a problem halved”, as this is where I believe our culture really sets us apart.?I have never interacted with anyone in our business who hasn’t been willing to assist with anything I needed to know or sense-check something for me.?We all play a part in a business that is an agile, highly efficient and knowledgeable development company.?Add to this our “can do” culture and we have the ability to provide consistent and exemplary customer service whilst working in a highly enjoyable environment.