Technology, agility, and interpersonal relationships

In 1995 I joined Softtek, a 400+ people company at the time. Today, I have more than 11,000 co-workers.

As a new Softtekian I was rapidly captivated by the essence of the company. I remember attending my first Galatea, the introductory corporate culture training. This was followed, a few months later, by a three-day retreat training for the Human Element, a concept defined by Dr. Will Schultz of UCLA. It was a collective exercise of introspection that I had never experienced, and one that has forever changed the way I view things, having an ever-lasting effect in my life.

At Softtek we pride ourselves on being rooted in the belief that self-aware and open individuals can create a successful organization. For over three decades we’ve believed in the power of teams conformed by individuals that are very aware of their behaviors, self-concept and feelings… yes, feelings!

Two years ago, we tasked ourselves with simplifying and modernizing the way we permeate our culture. Not an easy task for a 35-year-old organization, but a necessary step in our evolution. We didn’t want to change our essence, but knew our size, geographical reach and the very dynamics of our industry imposed a need for us to do something different in the way we communicate our culture and the way in which it is permeated throughout the organization.  

We came up with the concept of Softtek’s Cultural Platform—defining our essence, purpose and beliefs in a way that’s more suited to today’s organization. 

One of our beliefs is that by being agile and mastering technology we stay one step ahead. How does this match with the concepts of self-awareness that have brought us to where we are today?

Last September, along with the rest of the executive team at Softtek, I had the chance to be part of a workshop by Bill Joiner, co-author of Leadership Agility: Five Levels of Mastery   for Anticipating and Initiating Change. Well, it turns out that it is still about the way we behave, the way we listen, and the way we interact with each other. It was a fascinating exercise that we will be taking further into the organization.

Technology and agility, as well as our ability to serve our clients, is all about interpersonal relations. It’s all about our capability to listen, to understand, and to be empathic. It is all about people; it is about us.

We tried to capture these concepts in this video.

As the year closes and I self-reflect, I am again reminded of the power and influence of human interactions -  and the limitless opportunities that lie ahead for how we humans interact with the evolving world.