In July Shared Servicecs’ hosted an event for the whole department to come together! Here we share two of the stories from the day:
Sheldon Bedwell aka “The King of Passion” from Technology, Architecture & Engineering gives his account of the day.
If you would have told me at the start of the day that I would be standing in front of 300 novice percussionists, with the honorary title of “King of Passion” trying to ‘drum up’ passion in their playing, I would said “I don’t think so!” But that is exactly what happened when I went to the Shared Services Team Event.
When they said it would be fun they weren’t kidding! Fun is just one word I would use to describe the event, along with informative, engaging and interactive.
After a brief introduction from the leaders across Shared Services we were up on our feet and moving around – no boring presentations in sight. Armed with a jigsaw piece I joined the Facilities team, after the initial awkwardness of strangers, we came together to build our jigsaw, which later, once completed, showed the whole picture of Shared Services. What a fun and visual way to see the scale of who we are and what we do.
The three minute “speed dating” section was a great way to get a short punchy overview of what each area does, and a brilliant way to orchestrate 300 people in a small space.
Speaking of orchestration, the next part of the event was an absolute surprise! We all became one large percussion ensemble. This was an amazing experience and an exceptional way to show how we can all work together yet still bring our own individuality to the table. Now, I love a bit of drumming so I was definitely in the zone. Unfortunately for me, this meant I was asked to go out to the front where they declared me the “King of Passion” (now that was a first for me)! So with a good level of embarrassment, but in good spirit, I rose to the challenge and rouse the drummer in everyone. From the vantage point of standing out front I could look across the 300 people and see everyone fully engaged in both playing their drum and listening to the overall rhythms of the ensemble.
This was just one more wonderful memory that I have while working at Carnival UK. Thank you.
What are you doing to meet the challenge Chris set:
Joining a team meeting of another Shared Services area seemed like a great way to find out about what they are doing and the challenges they have. With that in mind I approached Robert Palmer who was more than happy to invite me to his next meeting.
Georgina Morgan from the Contact Centre Operation shares her excitement for Shared Services being international!
Doing jigsaws and playing drums is not your normal Monday. However it was a great way of getting to know the Shared Services Team.
I’ve read the emails about the teams within Shared Services but I could not work out how we all fit together. Now I can. We had a chance to listen to each of the departments that make up Shared Services and they shared what they all do. I really enjoyed this and could have listened to these talks for much longer. Every department was fascinating. A real highlight for me was listening to Ian Strangeway talk about what his team is doing to be make the ships more ‘sustainable’ a word that we hear a lot about here at CUK, but understanding what it actually means in practise, onboard our ships and in the office was definitely a light bulb moment and something that is always good to talk about both internally and externally.
It is great that CSSI (Carnival Support Services India) now come under Shared Services. This makes us international!
What I really liked about the session was that it was not about the department you were from, it was about how we are all one team working together to deliver the best results, whether it’s making music , building a jigsaw or delivering first class service that you would expect from the number cruise company.
What are you doing to meet the challenge Chris set: In CCO we are working on inviting members from different teams to come to our team meetings.
