Our focus on how we do things is really important, so it’s fantastic to see so many of you living our Culture Essentials and recognising each other for this in our Culture Essentials Awards.
Thanks to everyone who nominated. We’re excited to announce that the Q2 results are in and our winners are…
“Leanne has gone above and beyond to respect, protect and support another colleague who is having a very difficult time outside of work; being positive and understanding and signposting them to various sources of support. She checks in on them daily to see how they are and if they need anything, listens to their problems and empowers and encourages them to reach-out for help and support.
Leanne has been understanding and non-judgemental of her colleague’s problems and this has made a tremendous difference in helping to protect them and keep them safe. Despite being extremely busy herself, Leanne has been supportive throughout and it’s hugely appreciated.” Congratulations Leanne!
On hearing she’d won her award, Leanne said:
“It was such a lovely surprise to hear that I had not only been nominated but had also won the award, I was very touched that the person had taken the time to nominate me. Everyone needs support at times, life throws a lot of challenges to us all, it is nice to be able to help some even if it makes just a small difference, I’ll always be there to support and help my family, friends, neighbours and colleagues as much as I can whenever they need it.”
Overall team winner
Health Services, Maritime Respect & Protect
“Another very busy quarter for the Health Services team on the back of a hectic two years keeping our fleet colleagues and guests safe during the pandemic. I’m particularly impressed by the fortitude of the team supporting QM2 over the Easter period during her long cruise to the USA and Caribbean. Additionally the team have worked hard with colleagues ship and shore to ensure near-COVID free refits. They have also worked collaboratively with Fleet People Operations and People Team to ensure ships are appropriately resourced with Medical personnel.”
Congratulations to the team: Kathryn Ramsdale, Luke McLennan, Kathryn Westley, Ana Lopes , Michelle Marchant, Gareth Davies, Sian Batchelor, Zosia Reed, Jeanette Rogers, Adam McWilliams, Brian Cox, Beccie Dunn, Ryan Longthorn, Vicky Parrett, Hannah Perress, Samantha Law, Dominique Clarke, Chelsea Cox, Dylan Chapman, Chris Grady, Hannah Marwood, Gisela Menis, Aidan Kennedy, Elizabeth Paull, Schuyler Lewis, Alison Gigg and Phillipa Rayner.
Individual departmental winners
Cunard: Becky Proctor, Digital Content Executive
Respect & Protect, Listen & Learn, Improve
“Becky has kindly offered to support the Trade Marketing Sales and Operations team as we are working through an extremely busy period. Becky has been extremely helpful, offering support across a variety of areas which are new to Becky. Becky has been willing to help with whatever is needed, being proactive in her approach.”
Congratulations and thank you for your support Becky!
On hearing she'd won an award, Becky said:
“It means so much to be recognised by colleagues in this way during such a busy period! Thank you to those who nominated me and others in the digital team: none of us would be able to do what we do without each other, it's truly a team effort. I’m looking forward to seeing what new challenges await in the next quarter and beyond.”
Finance & Legal: Dave Clowes, Team Leader AR Collections
“Dave has only been with the team a few months but has already done at fantastic job at both recruiting new team members, but also getting to know each person in his team as an individual. He knows them to such a level he can unlock their development, empower them in their role, and support them as needed. Through his great listening and communication skills, he has helped team members with their next career move in the organisation. To have made such a positive start to his finance career, is testament to the great leadership skills he's demonstrating.”
“Gareth has demonstrated a number of our Culture Essentials in Q2. He spoke up about his concerns regarding Arcadia's water sampling results and questioned Arcadia's readiness to return to service to senior leadership when he felt there could potentially be a problem onboard. He was honest and open, even when he knew the news may not be welcomed, as he genuinely cared and wanted to protect the ship, the guests and our business, whilst being commercially aware of the impact of not returning to service on time. He went above and beyond to ensure the ship's teams were aware of the risks and how to mitigate them, he consulted water experts to review the ongoing problems urgently to support resolution and he always took the time to explain the ongoing issues and results in a clear understandable way.
Gareth has been very patient and always comes to morning briefs with a smile and sense of humour despite his recent heavy workload as he has been single-handedly providing Public Health support to the business for most of the year so far. Our team have learnt an incredible amount from him and I think he is hugely deserving of recognition for his display of our Culture Essentials."
Well done Gareth and thank you for your support!
People Team: Gemma Jones, Employee Communications Manager
“Gemma has been pivotal in the development and launch of new crew internet packages on board our ships, always speaking up to ensure that the interests of the crew are at the heart of our decisions and looking for every opportunity to improve our internet proposition for crew. Gemma has worked at pace and been thorough and clear to communicate the changes to crew as clearly and positively as possible. Her support throughout the project has been hugely appreciated by the whole team and will have had a strong positive impact on how this change has landed with everyone on board.”
“Gemma has been a fantastic asset to the crew internet package changes across all CUK ships. She has done a fantastic job with communications to ships, to ensure all are sighted on upcoming changes. She has been flexible and able to turn things around at short notice when plans have changed, been an advocate for crew welfare and has flagged concerns, championed change and really pushed to make sure the benefit is there for our crew. Thank you Gemma for all you have done.”
Congratulations Gemma!
Shared Services: Andrew Hardiman, Technology Project Manager
“A vital member of the team leading the improvements for better internet connectivity on board our ships, Andrew has been exceptional throughout the project. He’s gone above and beyond at every step of the technical implementation, whilst always respecting and protecting our colleagues on board and keeping them at the heart of everything he does.
He’s the ultimate team player, helping all members of the team, no matter if it’s his area of accountability or not. He has spoken up with proactive solutions and through considered communication has helped everyone to understand the many complex challenges the project has brought, empowering us all to move forward.
Above all, his calm manner, positivity and genuine care to improve things is exceptional. He’s always the first to jump in to help our colleagues on board with any questions or issues they have, and he’s been a great support to everyone else on the project team too. Thank you Andrew.”
Congratulations Andrew!
Shared Services: Lauren Farrell, Team Leader, Contact Centre
“Lauren is an amazing person and a real leader that loads of people would love to work with. Her work ethic and efforts motivate and inspire and I admire the way she deals with problems. The support that she shows to me and my colleagues is extremely appreciated and, as a manager, she set a fantastic example for all of us to follow. Many thanks Lauren!”
“Lauren has been there for me at a very difficult time. She has gone out of her way to support me, listening and helping with something I didn’t know how to handle and showing support is there at anytime. To listen how someone is doing, while working within the role both mentally and physically, is outstanding. Thank you Lauren
Congratulations Lauren!
Shared Services: Stephen Diggins, Applications Analyst
Improve, Communicate, Listen & Learn
“Stephen led the CUK activities for the recent and successful transition of the Polar mainframe. This was a critical project co-ordinated across all brands and impacting a huge number of business users and downstream applications and processes within CUK. He has led this improvement in a typically modest way, but highly competently and with exemplary communications and understanding, managing and mitigating any impact to CUK, with brand websites and contact centre key stakeholders all collaborating alongside Technology and relevant third parties to support, test and resolve any issues.
The migration went extremely well and it was recognised by the global cross-brand team that Stephen's contribution on behalf of CUK was significant to the overall success of the migration. As an Applications Analyst, this is well beyond the remit of Stephen's role and what's been really impressive is the way that he has combined his SME knowledge with role model Culture Essentials behaviours, taking ownership and going above and beyond to ensure success for CUK. Thank you Stephen.”
Congratulations Stephen!
Team departmental winners
Cunard: Revenue Management and Revenue Support teams
Respect & Protect, Improve, Communicate, Empower
“I wish to nominate Paul Kenny and the entire team who worked TIRELESSLY and still with great courtesy, patience and understanding this past month. The specific task in hand was - at very short notice - blocking and moving cabin sections and blocking out decks at a critical time of greatly reduced manning. This helped the onboard teams enormously and served to make the onboard teams operationally far more effective. Thank you all very much."
Congratulations Paul Kenny, Neil Christopher, Larisa Vulcan, Charlotte Kennedy, Debra Futter, Emma Dear, Nicola Looseley, Mark Cleaver, Eveline Izard, Liam Salero, Matt Laud, Chris Bridge and Sarah Reith!
On hearing the team had won an award, Paul Kenny said:
"It was fantastic to be recognised for the work that the team undertook around the implementation and management of the occupancy caps on our ships. This was a real team effort across the Cunard Revenue Management and support functions with the aim of supporting our crew during a difficult time and, in turn, our guests’ experience onboard."
“This wider team have created lines of communication which ensure a level of knowledge and collaboration, resulting in an extremely efficient Finance team, both in ensuring the integrity of our accounting, reliance and trust in the forecast and a strong level of support to the business. Their ways of working are efficient at all levels with close relationships throughout. This has created a 'best practice' model that I am hopeful we can mirror across our other finance areas.”
Congratulations Lucy Kelly, Sam Thomas, Andy Stamp, Anne Perera, Bernard Quinn, Robert Stevens and George Andrews!
People Team: Gemma Small & Jo Sterry, Employee Relations
Respect & Protect, Improve, Communicate, Empower
“Gemma and Jo have been coaching me on employment law and Employee Relations (ER) processes and procedures since last year to help me develop better understanding of employment law and ER procedures. They empower me to advise managers on employment law and HR policies and do my job better. They find time to coach me once a month to improve my work and therefore reduce the general ER questions I would normally send to the ER inbox. They help me to improve my confidence and my performance and therefore achieve my work goals. These sessions have been very helpful in my day to day job and have really empowered me. Thank you!”
Congratulations Gemma and Jo!
P&O Cruises: Newcomer hub team
Improve, Communicate, Empower
“The Digital Content team were given a new brief at the end of Q1 – to improve the content, experience and journey for newcomers on our website. During these last couple of months, the team have worked in a truly agile way to deliver our first ever newcomer focussed hub. They ploughed through lots of insight and data to understand what our newcomers struggle with and need, collaborated with teams from across the business to gain feedback and input and then shaped out a roadmap, chunking development into phases.
The key thing about this is that this was an entirely new way of working for the team. They completely stepped out of the day to day, embraced the challenge, and set to deliver a seismic improvement within only a matter of weeks. A great example of how we can practically use guest insight to drive radical improvement when we empower our teams - our subject matter experts – to deliver.
The first iteration has gone live, with the onwards brief to continue learning, to continue enhancing the journey, to ultimately help our newcomers navigate the complex world of cruising and book. What the team have delivered is a fantastic step forward for the business in terms of our digital offering as a brand and our ability to attract newcomers and the behaviours the team have demonstrated to achieve this have been first class.”
Congratulations Daniel Brett, Sophie Plowman, Katie Purdie, Abi Ladner and Cecilia Evison!
“I have nominated the Maritime Rotations Team as they have demonstrated many of our Culture Essentials which, by nature of their roles have a key contribution to HESS (Health, Environment, Safety and Security). Many of the team were new to Company/Department at a very challenging time for rotations in our journey to return to service.
The team have worked as a collective, engaging with key ship and shore stakeholders, improving their communication with the Fleet and at the same time building their skills and knowledge of this complex area.
Emma has led and empowered the team to raise their profile via the new rotations Fleet 'drop in’ calls and the results are evident. Many of the team have been singled out for their service to our shore stakeholders and Fleet colleagues have even visited Carnival House to pass on personal thanks for support they have received. Rotations planning is stabilising and although we are not in the position to be able to close all gaps just yet, the Fleet feel heard as the team work with them to balance team strength onboard.”
Congratulations Emma Tongs, Chris Truckel, Laura Taylor, Kirsty Donaldson, Victoria Palfrey, Emma Parkes, Emma Coleman, Sharice Ramnarine and Rory Macdonald!
Congratulations to all our winners! In recognition of all their hard work and dedication they’ll receive WOW points to spend on something they love.
Know a team or an individual who has demonstrated an outstanding example of bringing our Culture Essentials to life? Show them some appreciation and nominate them for a Culture Essentials Award today!
Respect & Protect, Listen & Learn, Improve