Woodversary (One Year in Wood ) – Diverse team are simply smarter Wood operates with the principle of wireachy not by hierarchy

15-April-2021 marks my one-year work anniversary at Wood and a year since the offices officially shut globally due to the covid pandemic. It was a huge challenge for my first day of work to see very few of my colleagues however, many people reached out to me and I have always felt part of the team at Wood Norway. I appreciate 1 year of growth and learning. Time really does fly especially when you are surrounded by truly talented teammates and constant innovation. It has been inspiring to see such team strength in these tough global circumstances. Maybe one day we will get to meet in person and cheers to that! Thank you to all of whom have been part of my life at Wood. 

I miss seeing my colleagues in real life, but I am so grateful that we are all able to continue working and socializing (virtually) together! Change can bring uncertainty, but it also brings new opportunities so keep an eye out for those positives, no matter how small they all count.

Here are top 12 things that's made my journey so meaningful and joyful even with this COVID pandemic situation and being work from home.

1. Wood - Wireachy not by hierarchy

Soon after joining the team in Norway I understood how Wood achieves being an inclusive and equal opportunity company. Wood works on wirearchy not by hierarchy, which I witnessed when I received immediate replies from VPs and CEOs, even when I had just started. That made it clear that there is respect for each other irrespective of where someone comes from or what title they hold. I was surprised when I got a call from my CEO within a few months of my journey at Wood, showing how everyone is listened to and respected.

2. Maintenance, Modifications and Operations (MMO) Operation in NCS

I have been working on 5 platforms namely Snorre A & B , Grane, Visund & Gulfaks B performing varied tasks from small to big projects over the span of couple of weeks to full 12 months period which enabled me to understand of various maintenance,modification and operations project tasks and procedures in NCS.

3. Upskilling employee - Basic safety Training including HUET with EBS

Helicopter Underwater Escape Training (HUET)with Emergency Breathing System (EBS). This was challenging but it was also fun. Thank you #Wood for enabling me to benefit from this training. I learnt a lot from this course not only for work, but for use in daily life too.

4. Diverse & Inclusion

Diversity is having a culture that values uniqueness: people of different backgrounds, cultures, genders, and races. Inclusion means inviting diverse groups to take part in company life.

5. Sense of belonging

Belonging. It is hard to describe it, but you know it when you feel it. Human beings just want to belong. We are compelled to come together. I felt myself belonging at Wood by involving myself in various initiatives offered by people & organization to make sure that everyone belonged to the community in Wood. The hope is that we get to come together at a very authentic way where we acknowledge each other's differences,  while also finding joy and learning from those differences.  

 6. WREN – Regional Lead

Being part of WREN network has enabled me to learn lot from interesting happening around the world with respect race, ethnicity and culture. There are always new initiatives to get involved with to create great workplace where everyone feels they belong.   

7. O365 Champions

As a champion, can share what I learn with my peers by participating in the application-specific Yammer groups such as Microsoft OneDrive and Microsoft Teams. It enable me support my colleagues in our local office.

This is a volunteer-led network of people who are passionate about productivity and leveraging the Office 365 platform to solve challenges and help us work better together at Wood. This is a chance to get the latest updates on the applications we are introducing to the organisation and receive free Microsoft-led live training on those tools. Office 365 champions also have a community in Teams to share knowledge and provide feedback to the IT team on how the business is adopting Office 365.

8. One Global Team

One of the great things about working for a global organization such as Wood is the opportunity to meet people from all over the world. It is always incredible to see the efforts made to connect our people globally and digitally, and keep us up to date with various webinars, and monthly and quarterly town hall calls with our leaders. It is also amazing to see the various networks and channels which give people the opportunity to connect with others across Wood offices.

9. Yammer- Wide Variety of Network

WREN (Wood Race Ethnicity Network), Inclusion & Diversity, Wellbeing, Photography, PRIDE, STEM , DPN (Developing professional Network) , Neurodiversity ,Equal footing. Digital and technology, Energy, Optimization and Innovation, Sustainability, Health & Fitness, and many more the list continues. Interacting with various people & channel made me Think global and act local.

Supporting PRIDE network across Wood office during PRIDE Month 2020

10. Celebrate the employee. 

Through Wood Inspire Award

Inspire Awards are to recognize and show appreciation to our Team Wood colleagues: The change makers, the champions, the non-stop supporters. The people who inspire to do better every day and let’s lift each other up. Lot of categories catered from small to big act. So everything is counted.

 Think Big, Be Bold awards

The Think Big, Be Bold Awards recognise those in Operations Europe, Middle East & Africa who are pushing the boundaries or disrupting the norm to revolutionise the solutions we can offer. To recognise who are thinking big and being bold to reinvigorate business and drive change.

11. Global Wellbeing Champions - Employee Wellbeing 

Throughout the year many campaigns initiated to keep up the wellbeing of everyone especially during the pandemic/WFH situation. Namely Sykle til Jobben , Kollegamosjonen, hjemjobbhjem (Norway), Woodin30days (global) challenge, Stress management seminars and lot online web-based toolkit to learn, practice and maintain active mind and healthy body.

12. Make myself as Do’er not as a spectator in the world to make the change

Some of campaign I have been participating so far

#thisisme #InternationalDiversityDay #Let's talk about race #woodwebelongblog

And lot more in the coming years.

Thanks for reading the article, the article shared here about my journey and things I liked most in my 1st year in Wood and to share my experiences with everyone how one can feel connected, engaged and belonged to the community where they work or live. The times we are in now are unprecedented; the COVID-19 pandemic is making us change the way we work and the way we live. It is essential that we manage our work and personal lives prudently, and most importantly look out for each other.