MagicBricks’ soldiers in action

For decades companies have followed the classroom model to get their employees to imbibe the values and culture of the organisation. But the results have been far from satisfactory, as what is discussed in the classroom is rarely practised by the employees in their regular routine and life.

At MagicBricks also, the ‘value programme’ was started a year and a half back, in an attempt to instil the values of the Company in the employees, through classroom learning. However, it was a failed endeavour. According to Anil Misra, CHRO, MagicBricks, the Company was unable to identify the right kind of values that it wanted to transmit to the employees, and hence, could not really achieve what it wanted to do.

Now, MagicBricks has come up with the second edition of the value programme called ‘Values 2.0’. It has become the flagship programme of Magicbricks under which it has tried to go beyond the classroom-based learning to a more play-way kind of learning.

Last week, 26 employees from across functions, such as sales, finance, marketing and IT, were taken to the Sohna district of Haryana, near Damdama lake, where they had set up a military camp. It was a three-day activity conducted by Apoorv Chaturvedi, head of MagicBrick’s leadership academy.

“Now I am very much confident that the first batch of the Value 2.0 Programme will remember all the values that we wanted them to internalise”

The 26 members were divided into teams of seven members each and were given limited resources to survive during the whole exercise. They were given limited food, tents and other means of resources. They also had to prepare their meals all by themselves.

The whole activity was designed and divided into six phases, with each team being given some task to perform. As the teams progressed from one phase to the next, the difficulty level of the tasks was increased. For every task or activity a daily briefing was done by the team leaders to explain and boost their respective teams. The tasks involved activities, such as wall jump and paint ball fights, with all the teams competing with each other.

“It was a super tough programme, where teams were given limited resources and supplies. The leaders had to make sure that their territories were secured and their team members were taken care of,” shares Misra.

The programme also tried to instil the ‘Do’s and Don’t’s’ behaviour in the employees. The participants were deprived of all luxury, and were literally made to fight for survival for three days. They were given no chance to sleep through the day.

As per Misra there were no caps on gender nor was there any kind of age limit. Unfortunately, there were only two women in the entire group. As the activity took place during the weekend, participants had to actually sacrifice their holiday to attend the military camp.

The going got so tough that seven to eight members gave up well before the training process concluded.

Only employees of the Noida branch were part of the training programme, in addition to first-time managers to senior-level managers. A similar camp is being planned for the south, west and east zones in the next quarter, that is, in April. The ‘Value action programme’ will be organised twice a year starting from 2019.

There were five set of values, on the basis of which the whole programme was initiated:

Meritocracy: This means the most suitable idea given by anyone in the company, regardless of position, rank or seniority, will prevail.

High performance: This means zero tolerance for mediocrity and punishment for the same.

Team spirit: This points to the ability of employees to work as a unified team.

Passion for excellence: This refers to how employees can go out of their way and stretch to achieve goals.

Ownership: This refers to the level of accountability that each employee has.

During the training process, it rained and each team was given only two tents for shelter, where everybody had to adjust. “These training experiences teaches a person to take accurate decisions in crisis situations and respond to it, “feels Misra.

The whole aim of the activity was to –

1. Make the employees realise and internalise the values.
2. Impart the values in a play-way manner.
3. Internalise those values in such a way that each one lives those values every day.

Talking about the learning experience and response of the employees to this initiative, Misra says, “Now I am very much confident that the first batch of the Value 2.0 Programme will remember all the values that we wanted them to internalise.”