WE ARE FKP SCORPIO

Anne Jensen

28.06.2019

A little more than a year ago, we started a process in the company that we called FKP Scorpio Identity. So far, it has resulted in a defined company philosophy, an employee charter, internal knowledge sharing sessions, yearly employee questionnaires and several other initiatives. Most importantly, we are starting to see spikes in overall satisfaction levels and we spur a will among colleagues to break down barriers between departments in order to work more and better together. We are not there yet, but the process is in motion and on-going! But let's take a step back to look at how this process even came into question.

Years of relatively fast and massive growth of the company had meant A LOT of new employees, new business areas and new structures, and what started as a small indie-promoter with big ambitions had now become a European-wide company, bringing people and music together from several offices across Europe. Typically, such a development puts stress on all parts of a company - from the people in charge, to the ones that have been there for a long time and now must find their way in new structures, to all the new employees that are eager to find out where the journey is heading. FKP Scorpio was no exception, and it was clear that an effort had to be made to define and describe our company’s “reason to be” – to the outside world and to ourselves.

Task: To get everyone on board

So we set out methodically, using different models to go through the important questions that needed to be answered. We had talks with our CEOs, Folkert and Stephan, to try to gather all the thoughts and ideas that initially made Folkert found the company almost 30 years ago. To test the first drafts, and to make sure that neither process nor findings were merely imposed on everyone top-down, we asked all employees to tell us what they thought were the most important values of the company. Parallel to this, a broader company questionnaire was launched for the first time, in which we also asked some key questions regarding the company identity. These question rounds made sure that everyone was included in the process, which was really important for the value of the entire thing. Positively, it turned out that we were more or less in line, across levels.

Serious party at annual outing

With the results from the questionnaire in hand, we were able to put a one-pager together, ready for presentation at the general meeting at our annual company outing. As the company is not only a bunch of professionals, passionate about making great events and bringing people together across genres, but definitely also full of happy people who like to throw a great party, the general meeting became somewhat animated, and one could have feared that the presentation would end up in chaos…! On the contrary, it was well received, and afterwards we received input and suggestions for changes, which were then taken into account in the final revision (see below).

^{Company-wide meetings are an important tool to keep everyone up to date. And to have some fun together, of course.}

What kind of company do we want to be?

Fluffy words on a piece of paper don’t move anything, you might object. Why not rather do something? Actions speak louder than words, as we all know. However – and this is important: In order to act, you need to know which actions to take! And here is the primary goal of working with our identity. Because in the process, we have asked ourselves "What kind of company do we want to be?" and "What is the difference, no matter how small or how big, that we make in the world? To our customers? To our employees?"

When we are aware of the difference that we want to make, we can take actions towards this goal. For instance, because we now know in numbers that we want to communicate better and work closer together across departments, we have developed our knowledge sharing initiative FKP Scorpio Sessions, where we try to inspire each other and share knowledge across the company.

^{As important as regular meetings are after-work gatherings - especially on the rooftop if Hamburg's weather permits.}

Stick to the course

In an effort to make the fluffy words a little less fluffy and a little more usable in our everyday work, we have also created a company charter, which everyone has been invited to sign. It contains specific advice on how to live by our company philosophy every day at the office or at our events; from remembering to say good morning to our colleagues, to not forgetting to share our passion for music with each other as well. The charter is finished and signed – and thus somehow concludes our identity process. We will give it a prominent placement at the office, so that we are reminded every day of what we stand for and how we want to work together.

…and keep the development going

It should however also be seen as a continuous work in progress. This does not mean that we hesitate to stand by our decisions so far, but that we need to constantly remind ourselves to stick to the course and also ask ourselves, what we can do better. A company lives and breathes with the people it employs, and as we develop as humans, our company philosophy should also be able to develop. Starting this identity process was the first big step. Together, we will take many more in the years to come.

This is what we stand for.

WE ARE FKP SCORPIO

WE BRING PEOPLE TOGETHER THROUGH LIVE MUSIC AND ENTERTAINMENT