The cafeteria
Today I went to visit the Cablinc’s factory in Stoke-on-Trent. Albeit without a formal introduction, I wanted to meet the floor managers and get a feel for the place and the people. Joan McChatty met me there and gave me a guided tour of the office and the factory.
Yasmin Kushal joined us for lunch at the cafeteria. She is a really, really nice person. And very passionate about her work, too.
Yasmin and Joan explained that, before covid, almost everyone in the company would have lunch at the cafeteria. At the moment, when not working from home, office staff tend to eat at their desks. This means that the tables are now mainly occupied by factory workers.
However, I noticed a group of people cheerfully having lunch and discussing what seemed to be a technical blueprint. Yasmin said they work in the Project team. Joan said that one of them joined the company hardly 4 months ago. They are probably the junior engineers Phil McPlan referred to during last week’s senior team meeting.
As I was carrying my tray, I heard about last evening’s soap opera episode, about a factory machine which is threatening to stop working, about a Cablinc colleague in hospital because of covid. Funny how you get such a good feel for what goes on in the company just by having lunch at the cafeteria.
Good communication and knowledge sharing practices supported by adequate enterprise social tools can improve organisational performance. Attend Social Now 2022 to see how it can be done.
Social Now 2022: Enabling engaged, high-performing teams
Lisbon, Portugal – 19 & 20 May