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THE STORY OF INITIATIVE LATVIA
Initiative Latvia, the leading media agency of a global media agency group, introduced recognition technology PEERO APP into its daily work.
The managing partner, Roberts Misāns admits, “We have grown from a small agency into a TOP 3 agency in Latvia, and people have always been a priority to us”. “I believe that the client is working with people, not titles.”
The marketing communications lead Edīte Biteniece adds “We are a fast-growing company, and our business is rapidly and continuously developing”. “Hence why our team is so important for everything to run smoothly and continuously.”
Without values, there could be no people
“The goal of any business is to earn money, but if you focus only on the money, you lose the essence of what is truly important for every successful company and entrepreneur, namely, a strong foundation that holds everything together – values,” as emphasized by Roberts Misāns. “I believe that people are at the basis of everything. But there will be no people if there are no set values for them to base their work on. I hear from other companies, as well as from my colleagues in the industry that at the moment the rotation of employees is very high. If there is no active culture and communication in the company, there will be no people working for it.”
“I believe that people are at the basis of everything. If there is no active culture and communication in the company, there will be no people working for it.”
The main and number one value of Initiative is benevolence – it is important that our mutual communication is based on respect. The second most important value of the company is meeting in the middle ground, because “we will always be on the client’s side and act in their interests to achieve maximum results. We believe in a long-term relationship with the client,” Roberts Misāns reveals. Now the agency’s employees can evaluate each other, referring to the company’s values – teamwork, professionalism, helpfulness, high service quality, fast response, creativity, and positive attitude. Another significant value of the company is logic, because we work with a lot of data every day. It is important to do it in a meaningful way that delivers positive results for the business, i.e., “not only to make a cool campaign, but for it to result in profit for the customer,” Roberts Misāns adds.
If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed
“There is a saying ‘If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.’ When we develop and strengthen our company’s internal culture, our team can move forward with twice as much capacity when working with clients and creating a common image of the company in the eyes of those around us,” Edīte Biteniece highlights. “PEERO APP is a great tool in helping us to develop our company’s internal culture. We know the values of our company theoretically, and we bring them to our clients, but we sometimes forget them in our daily work amongst ourselves. This has been somewhat of a key to how should we perceive each other, both within the team and as a group. Doing everyday tasks, we often feel underrated. They might not show it or even say it’s not needed, but everyone likes to be commended for doing a good job. PEERO APP is a good tool to meaningfully acknowledge and say thank you instead of exaggerations like “You are the best!”.
Being together when we are apart
Even before the pandemic, an employee and their well-being was a priority for the company. The introduction of the recognition technology PEERO APP, was a logical step to keep the team together at this time when we cannot be together physically. “We’re always looking for the best ways to motivate the team, to express gratitude and appreciate each other. This app has given us a great opportunity to support each other without being physically together. We try to maintain the company’s culture free and professional, and this has been a very good way for us to do it,” as stated by Edīte Biteniece.
“Since we started using PEERO APP, there is a feeling of closeness and familiarity between colleagues, especially at this time when we are working remotely. I think it’s a very good way to motivate colleagues to support and help one another,”
the opinion shared by the office manager Laura Grīnvalde
“Our team is very open to new ideas. If we have decided something together with the management, it is definitely a positive decision supported by everyone,” Edīte Biteniece admits. “It is a tangible way for us to appreciate each other amidst our daily rush and dynamic work, as well as to get an overview of the performance of our team’s work based on team collaboration data.”
How did we introduce PEERO APP
“Those who know me know that I’m not a speaker, I’m a doer. I believe that anything can be done if you understand the meaning behind it,” Roberts Misāns said. “We set a goal and a deadline and introduced technology for recognition and values in our company. When we started using the PEERO APP, the technology for recognition and values, we launched a two-week pilot project at the agency, during which employees learned how to use the app, identified what they liked or disliked about it, and their recommendations for improving it. Edīte Biteniece emphasizes “This 2-week trial period helped us a lot when implementing the use of this app in the company.” The agency started actively using the technology with the start of a new month, all technical issues had already been solved and employees were already familiar with it and knew how to use it. “We’ve been using this technology for five months now, and it has been great. Already, 50% of our employees are active users of the technology. After the first three months of using the team collaboration analytics tool in PEERO APP, we could already understand more clearly how team collaborations take shape, and what steps are taken.”
Here are your Initiative tips
The recognition technology PEERO APP is easy to customize and use. The appreciation and recognition among colleagues is evaluated through the company’s core values by tips, thus Peero was adapted into Initiative tips. “We are free-thinkers, so ‘Here are your tips’ ”, said Edīte Biteniece. “A way of saying an extra thanks, i.e., you get your monthly salary, bonuses or additional rewards, and additionally you get more tips – you are nice, you did a good job, you follow our work culture and develop our company!”
“Here are your tips – you are nice, you did a good job, you follow our work culture and develop our company!”
For us it works very well as a HR tool
“PEERO APP works very well for us as a HR tool, because we are able to measure the temperature within the company and see the performance of the team by analysing team collaboration and mutual networking. This helps us to analyse the data at the end of each month and draw logical conclusions”, emphasized Edīte Biteniece. “We’ve always known that project managers work closely with media planners, but now we can see who is being approached in certain situations, which colleagues are friends with each other, and which are not. It was a great discovery for us to see that those colleagues who are not very sociable or talkative on a daily basis are some of the most popular. In other words, turns out, a person who sits and works quietly at their desk is helping and supporting a vast amount of colleagues and is an essential cornerstone for the company.”
“It is a tangible way for us to appreciate each other amidst our daily rush and dynamic work, as well as to get an overview of the performance of our team’s work based on team collaboration data”.
Next steps with PEERO APP
During the next year, the agency’s goal from using the PEERO APP is to build a denser network involving its closest clients “so that we can see how our employees work with clients, as well as to promote the active involvement of all employees every day, and not only at the end of the month,” explained Edīte Biteniece. “Additionally, we would also like to assess the values of our company. Our company stands behind seven core values, while one value is currently in an experimental stage, we are testing how it correlates and complies with our goals.”
