Breakfast with CEO is a new initiative launched this year whereby we group together newcomers from the different business areas and invite them to have breakfast with our CEO, Michael J. Zammit. Other senior members of the management also attended. Such an initiative has multiple objectives, the first and most important is to give newcomers visibility in the organisation.
We all know what it feels like to have just joined a company and be the newest member of a team. Newcomers may feel shy to talk to senior members of staff or may feel it’s not their place to give negative feedback or criticism. And yet, newcomers are the most valuable source of information because they have a fresh mind. They can see things that those who are part of the company for a number of months or years no longer see. They may also be coming from other industries or competitors in our field and can give valuable insight on how to improve company processes and procedures. Such initiatives allow newcomers to have time with senior members of management, build their relationship and discuss their new work environment freely.
The secondary objective is to help newcomers develop a bond and network between each other. The growing pains of any organisation is to ensure that as the number of team members increases, teams keep communicating and collaborating effectively. This is only possible if we give team members the opportunity to develop relationships that facilitate such communication. It is cliché perhaps to say ‘putting a face to a name’ but it is essentially that.
The third, and not least important objective, is that CSB is a family run business with its employees being part of its extended family. We pride ourselves that employees are not numbers, that we know each others’ life stories and that there is an element of trust and commitment between each other – at every level of the organisation. We want our team members to regard CSB as their second home and we believe initiatives like this ensure such values survive.