Every organisation has values. Fewer have values that people can actually feel. When HARTING asked us to bring theirs to life for around a hundred of their people, we started with a simple question: what would it look like if these words stopped being words?
From a word on the wall to a way of working
HARTING's values are about how people connect, partner, adapt and innovate. So we built the whole day around a single idea and a single word: CAPTAIN.
Connect And Partner Together to Adapt and INnovate.
Not a training day. Not a fun day out. A full-day journey where every hour was designed to let one value come alive, so that by the evening, people had not just heard about the culture. They had lived it.
Connect: beyond the usual circles
Most teams talk to the same few people every day. The morning was designed to quietly break that pattern, mixing people across roles and functions until the room stopped feeling like departments and started feeling like one company. Within minutes, the laughter was doing the work that a dozen org charts can't.
Partner: nobody holds the whole picture
Real work rarely gives any one person all the information. So we created a situation where it didn't either. Success depended on trust, on sharing clearly, on not assuming, and on relying on colleagues in very different roles. Collaboration wasn't a nice-to-have. It was the only way through.
Adapt and innovate: when the old formula stops working
The winning method of yesterday may become the limitation of tomorrow.
In the afternoon, the ground kept shifting. Just as teams found a rhythm, the conditions changed, and then changed again. The only constant was the standard of quality. Teams had to let go of what had worked, reorganise and keep delivering. It is exactly what a manufacturing business asks of its people every day, felt in an hour.
Together: the part that makes it stick
The day closed the way great teams do: fast, loud and together. Speed with control. Planning with agility. Leadership with participation. Competition, but with team spirit.
Why it works: I to We to Us
CAPTAIN is our I to We to Us journey in HARTING's own language. Individuals step out of their comfort zones (I). Colleagues learn to trust and build on each other's ideas (We). And a whole room leaves with a shared story and a shared identity (Us).
The day creates more than winners. It creates captains: people who connect across silos, partner with honesty, stay composed when things change, and bring better ideas without compromising on quality. And they do it together.
Looking for corporate team building activities that turn company values into everyday behaviour? We design values-led team building days for HR teams in Chennai and beyond. Let's talk.
