Corporate influencer kick-off: Values vs. everyday life - a contradiction?

The first main module of the Culture Companions training programme kicked off with these questions - a decisive start to the first and only corporate influencer training programme at HDI.
The first training module marked the content-related start of our Culture Companions' training journey. The aim was to create a shared understanding of culture as a strategic topic for the future - and to provide the Companions with orientation, dialogue and initial impetus for their role.

After lunch together at HDI-Platz, the workshop part began in the Riethorst building in Hannover. In interactive sessions, the Culture Companions addressed the question of what culture means to them in their day-to-day work, where they encounter it and how they themselves can actively contribute to its further development.
They wrote down on post-its what is already working well - and where they see potential for the future. Once again, it became clear that culture is not shaped from "above", but is created through day-to-day interaction - through attitude, communication and practised values.

A particular highlight was the in-depth presentation by Caroline Schlienkamp, Board Member for Human Resources at the HDI Group. In her presentation and the subsequent ask-me-anything, she highlighted the key strategic values of transparency, engagement and collaboration (TEC) - and emphasised how essential these values are for cultural change at HDI.
Caro also emphasised that culture is not an "add-on", but both a foundation and a resource for the future. Her message to the Culture Companions: Those who shape culture also actively shape the future of HDI. In this respect: GO FOR IT!

In a second workshop phase, the Culture Companions developed initial ideas on how the TEC values could be made more tangible in their working environment. The results ranged from new feedback formats and hybrid collaboration ideas to small but effective changes in everyday life that can contribute to improving joint performance.
These sketches were not only creative, but also showed that the Culture Companions have a feel for how communication, attitude and collaboration can be improved in concrete terms - and that they are not afraid to share their views.

Finally, the Culture Companions were given a small challenge to take home: with the help of Simon Sinek's "Golden Circle" model, they were invited to reflect on and define their personal motivation (Why), their influence (How) and their specific contributions (What) as corporate influencers.
This self-positioning forms the basic starting point for everything that follows: Postings, impulses, conversations, formats. It creates clarity and strengthens awareness of one's own role in the cultural context of an organisation like HDI.

The first training as a starting point has shown: The Culture Companions bring curiosity, responsibility and attitude - ideal prerequisites for authentically standing up for performance, culture, change and HDI's values as corporate influencers.