As I write this post, the lockdown is still not over and we are clueless on what lies ahead of us. However, as a team, we have evolved and are today comfortable working from home. This post is about how we spent the first few weeks of the lockdown keeping the team together and staying engaged and relevant.

In the middle of March 2020, we were thinking that the crisis will be over in a couple of weeks and we should be back in office. Some people left for their hometowns and mostly we thought of it as a vacation of sorts. After a week, it dawned on us that the lockdown is here to stay.

We checked up on what others were doing and realised doing zoom calls was the in thing. We scheduled zoom calls and did fun activities like everyone wearing headgear during the call, etc.

Then we started challenging people to sing and dance and mimic and our WhatsApp group became like the entertainment zone. But we had to do something constructive and creative and at the same would get everyone on the team involved.

We divided the ourselves into two teams and started the Hunger Games – the guch Olympics. A series of competitions where each team would be scored. We got our ex-employees and advisors as judges. Here is how it panned out

Round 1 – Naming the team

Both teams had to come up with names and logos. While one team called themselves Raptors, the other one came up with the name Pun-Lama

The Raptors war cry is below

Raptors logo

Lamas logo

Quote from Team A’s captain Nimal “So we have named our team as” Raptors Parangi Palaya”. We were so clinical naming it that way. The logo has many complex theories applied in it.(golden ratio etc). it has hidden meaning allover.”

Quote from Team B’s captain Shiva “In Tamil, the work Panlama means ‘to do’ or ‘let’s do it’. And Lama means monk or teacher. Like Dalai ‘Lama’ So we came up with PUN_Lama”

The winner for this competition was PUN_Lama and they ended up calling themselves the Lamas. The other team called themselves Raptors!

Round 2 – Creating a video about WFH

The second round was about creating a video of the Work From Home experience. Raptors won this round. The video done by Raptors was also widely shared by us on social media and we got a lot of traction on the video

        Video from Raptors!

         Video from Lamas!

Round 3 – Quorathon

While Round 1 was about writing and Round 2 was about creating a video, Round 3 was very different and focussed on writing. Both teams had to answer one question in the best possible manner. Today, most people who apply to us end up reading this post and have a sneak peek into our culture and the way we work. This post alone has resulted in huge inbounds for our talent pipeline. We have been able to portray our employer brand to the world.

What is it like working at guch?

https://www.quora.com/What-is-it-like-working-at-guch

Round  4 – Marketing Video

Round 4 was one of the most important rounds and both teams had to come up with a Video strategy along with video content for guch. The premise was this – Business has been tough during the lockdown. And immeditely after the lockdown, businesses would want to grow and at the same time also save money. This can happen only if they use marketing budgets effectively. At the same time, no business can grow without investing in marketing. So, guch’s promise of high quality videos that are cost efficient comes into play. Both teams did a fantastic job, but the winners again were Raptors.  

Lamas shared this deck as their video was not complete. The incomplete video is also shared below

        Video from Raptors!

Round 5 – Case Study Video

By this round, the Lamas had lost hope of winning the Games and did not show the enthusiasm they had at the start. They had lost 2 rounds and were uninspired to continue. This was also a time when we started winning some deals from clients. However, the last round was a Case Study video round and the Raptors killed it with this done. This also resulted in huge social media appeal for us. It was a case study for our recent campaign for CRED.

Video from Raptors!

Overall, the gist of doing such an activity was to keep the team engaged, create some marketing collateral for guch, create employer branding opportunities and in general stay happy, motivated and competitive. While we will never forget 2020 as the year of the lockdown and coronavirus, team guch will also not forget the guch Olympics that they were part of. It brought the team together!

Final scores below

guch Olympics – Final Scorecard

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