“
The project to build a Culture Guide for Atvos came about at a time of transition, where it was crucial to have an energized team focused on an intense recovery of growth. Potential drivers and cultural challenges that became barriers to these movements were mapped, bringing to light a Culture Guide in an immersive and collaborative process, making the team the great protagonist of cultural changes.
Gustavo Alvares
CEO*
About Atvos
Atvos was founded in 2007 and is currently the world’s second-largest ethanol producer and one of the main issuers of Carbon Credits in the country. Its commitment to the environment is driven by the purpose of producing clean energy that moves the world and transforms lives.
The company operates in four states and has more than 9,000 members distributed across nine agro-industrial units and two corporate offices. Its main activities include the production and commercialization of ethanol, VHP sugar, and electrical energy from sugarcane and its biomass.
Context found
Team going through a challenging time of management change.
The future vision and resumption of growth needed to be integrated into the daily lives of employees, in a tangible and practical way.
The change in attitude was crucial to enhance the real impact of each individual on the organization.
The need for unity between members with different experiences was evident, combining resilience about the problematic past with new enthusiasm for the future journey.
Integration between units was sought to promote a unified vision and a deeper connection between the field and city teams.
The transition phase required a new positioning, starting from the inside out and involving various stakeholders, such as the team, leadership and investors.
Based on the context we found,
we created 5 Culture Project missions.
Development of a new Atvos Culture Guide
Review of the company's purpose
Involve nine thousand employees at different levels, in the process
Define and activate new attitudes to the team's daily routine
Align the project's movement with the organisation's current objective
1- Immersion
We had the opportunity to listen to the corporate team: c-level, middle leadership, marketing team and some key employees, who brought the business vision, and we were able to get to them what we experienced in the field to co-create together a new direction for Atvos.
Journey numbers
+9000
Employees
+5609
Employees involved
13
Interviews with top management
550
Leaders actively involved
+80
Employees participation
in workshops
9
Units involved
We begin by identifying culture boosters and blockers and grouping them using our five analysis lenses:
Plasticity
We observe how transformation aspects occur in the organisation and the level of openness to change.
Connections
We analyze how the team communicates and whether Psychological Safety is present.
Our Way
We observe how work is carried out and decisions are made, whether it is a unique aspect or occurs repetitively without a clear identity.
Meaning
We analyze whether there is a shared purpose, formal or informal, that motivates the team daily or whether more tactical and transactional aspects mobilize them.
Impact in
the World
It examines how employees’ desire to impact society positively is measured and perceived in everyday life.
2- Culture Guide Strategy
After listening, it was time for the CultureCode team to bring their vision and contribute to constructing what we call “vectors”, which are the beginning of creating the culture strategy in our methodology.
With the vectors in hand, we met with Atvos’ senior leadership in two culture modelling workshops, where strategic themes for the organisation’s new moment were discussed.
The vectors were elevated and prioritised with the strategic vision of senior leadership. They took shape so that we could transform them into possible statements that would guide us in creating the Culture Guide.
We create drivers that will activate the team’s positive aspects and mobilise the necessary transformation.
3- Culture Guide Design
Based on what we heard and experienced, we co-built the Culture Guide structure with the project focus team that made sense for the Atvos context so that it could be aspirational but also tangible and tactical.
On the way to building the new strategy, reviewing the company’s purpose became necessary, which was no longer connected with the new direction being created. A further purpose was born now, with the vision and collaboration of all company levels.
Based on the new purpose, the structure was already aligned with the Atvos way: simple, objective, and robust.
With partners from the Atvos communication team, our strategy gained a new look, with a graphic style that enhanced communication and made its implementation more tangible.
4- Activation & Training
With the Culture Guide ready, the next and most crucial step was to train the P&O team from each unit to cascade the new strategy. We held two days of immersion in the contemporary Atvos Culture with the focal team. At this stage, the challenge was to make the team take ownership of the new culture and enable them to train their teams in each unit.
We carried out an intense and powerful program, mixing theory and practice in a co-created dynamic so that the content presented could be adapted to each pole’s reality. In the end, the team had material with time flexibility and tools to be implemented.
We lived an experience of total team delivery and a well-defined action plan, ensuring the team returns to their daily activities connected and ready to reproduce and pass on the content to their respective teams.
5- Dashboard
We know that monitoring culture data is essential to make the necessary adjustments and map the opportunities and challenges in its implementation. Based on the new Culture Guide, we created the Atvos Culture dashboard with personalised metrics aligned with the new strategy.
Compared to previous years, the first survey had a response rate of around 60%, which already shows a positive outlook for the future.
*Data and layout replaced by fictional data.
Results
Gustavo Alvares
CEO*
*During the project creation and implementation
“Successful companies have a purpose beyond the transactional relationship with their employees. The project to build a Culture Guide for Atvos came about at a time of transition, where it was crucial to have an energised team focused on an intense recovery of growth. Potential drivers and cultural challenges that became barriers to these movements were mapped, bringing to light a Culture Guide in an immersive and collaborative process, making the team the great protagonist of cultural changes.
Thus, the CultureCode project restored the pride of being part of the organisation’s history and new movements. The results of the cultural transformation process are lasting: the company achieved the best operational results ever seen in its history.”
