Fra 10 til 100 med kulturen som oase Pingala

Vi inviterede Svend Brinkmann ind i vores podcast ”Fra 10-100 med kulturen som oase” til en indsigtsfuld  diskussion omkring vores tilgang til at skabe den bedste arbejdsplads og kulturens store indflydelse på vores organisatoriske adfærd. 
Hvordan adskiller Pingala sig fra andre andre virksomheder?
Hvem bestemmer hvem der bestemmer?  
Hvordan passer det enkelte individ ind i en virksomhed uden afdelinger?
Tak til Svend Brinkmann og Erik Korsvik Østergaard for at ville dele jeres tanker. 

In 2017, Pingala opened their office in Dubai. The ambition was not to outsource work from Denmark, but to establish a self-propelled office with a strong culture, built on the same ideas of freedom, transparency, self-leadership, trust, and a flat hierarchy. Same guidelines, but in a Dubaian context.

“Is this going to really work out?” This was the response from Lekshmi Panakkal, a Senior Functional Consultant in Pingala Dubai, when I asked her about her first meeting with the Pingala culture. Her question nicely sums up the skepticism many people have when they first hear about the Pingala culture. 

What does freedom mean, at work? Freedom is an essential part of the culture, and in this episode we dive into how this actually is handled. Freedom to choose your role on a project. Freedom to choose when and where you work.

But it does not come as a free ride. With freedom comes responsibility and accountability. And it takes two parts to make it real: An organization that really listens to you and provides the freedom of choice, and that you as a human being are vocal about who you are and what you want.

Freedom, transparency, honesty, respect, trust, and equality are the values that the Pingala culture is built on. How does that resonate with the employees? And how does that fit with being a human being? 

The human factor is considered in Pingala. The people at Pingala Dubai quickly connects the values with personal anecdotes that exemplifies and underlines the values, as they unfold in practice.

Also, the values affect the collaboration, the self-leadership, and the work that they do with the customers. Freedom, self-leadership, and decision-making is highly connected, as we will hear in the episode.

In Pingala there are no middle managers. The people in Pingala can make the decisions themselves. That requires self-leadership. And lot of mutual understanding, a lot of trust, and psychological safety. 
But why go in that way? An evolving world requires adaptability. “And I don’t see you can create the necessary adaptability in a very mechanical organizational setup”, Søren Rolander Langkjær says. 
Empowerment is key to this kind of approach, and it takes two parties to establish that: One that gives empowerment, and one that is willing and capable to take it. This requires trust, advise, and direction.
The results are better solutions and stronger connections. It just makes sense to Pingala.

How does the Pingala culture fit with the customers? How do they work and collaborate? And do the customers react to the Pingala culture that is flat and transparent, and with focus on respect and freedom? 

“I have seen a lot of surprise with the customers”, Vidya Menon says.

The Pingala culture is carried with the employees to the customers, and that is both challenging and rewarding. Technical AND soft skills must both be in place for that: Communication, negotiation, and connection skills are needed. 

“People understand we’re genuinely honest and want to do a good job”, Søren Rolander Langkjær ends the podcast with. Its not just Pingala preaching about the culture. It’s how they function. They walk the talk.