My Journey with CEO Days: Fostering Connection and Culture at Damia
In today’s rapidly evolving corporate landscape, where hierarchies and divisions often hinder effective communication, I believe that it’s essential for a CEO to create opportunities that empower employees and nurture a strong company culture. At Damia, we take immense pride in being a united team working towards a common goal, and, in collaboration with our People and Culture department, we’ve introduced an innovative and engaging practice — The CEO DAYS.
I initially set out to write this post for internal sharing within our company, as a way to express my profound gratitude and pride for our team. However, it evolved into an article that explores the benefits of CEO Days and how they contribute to building a fun and culturally rich company, complete with a Portuguese twist of food and drinks.
What are Damia’s CEO Days?
CEO Days at Damia are my personal initiative, where I, Cláudio Menezes, despite maintaining regular contact with team members through meetings and some office days, every month took place a lunch with a colleague.
The purpose behind this practice is to encourage open dialogue, strengthen relationships, and foster a sense of unity and camaraderie within our organization. It provides me with a unique opportunity to get to know our Damians better, understand their perspectives, and, most importantly, acknowledge their contributions face-to-face.
After almost a year of CEO Days, I firmly believe that this is a powerful tool for empowering employees. It has enabled me to break down barriers that can often exist, especially in a fully remote work setting, thereby fostering a deep sense of belonging and encouraging everyone to contribute their ideas and opinions.
This journey has taken me across Portugal, from Porto to Lisbon, Faro to Viseu. Along the way, we’ve savoured magnificent Portuguese food (I must admit, I’ve gained a few pounds), and it has become evident that the simple act of inviting colleagues for lunch makes them feel valued. This, in turn, leads to increased motivation and productivity.
One of the unique aspects of CEO Days is the incorporation of Portuguese cultural elements, particularly the sharing of traditional food and drinks. This adds an extra layer of excitement and uniqueness to the activity, especially for someone like me, who is a food enthusiast. However, I always make it a point to let my colleagues choose the venue, ensuring that their preferences are honoured.
This cultural integration is of paramount importance, not just to celebrate diversity but also to promote a sense of pride and appreciation for different backgrounds within our company. Whether we’re dining in Viseu or Seixal, employees have the opportunity to showcase their heritage and share local Portuguese customs with me. It creates an inclusive atmosphere where everyone can learn and engage in a multicultural environment.
I take immense pride and joy in how impactful this initiative has been thus far. I wholeheartedly recommend creating a strategy like this for every organization, irrespective of whether it’s the CEO, a team manager, a product manager, or another C-suite role. Consider someone within your team, department, or the company as a whole whom you don’t interact with daily due to conflicting schedules or heavy workloads. Arrange a lunch or, if you’re on a budget, plan a happy hour after work (or even a mimosa at breakfast).
The key is to take some time to be there for your colleagues, to listen, learn, and most importantly, connect!
So, let the CEO Days begin, and may they pave the way for a more connected and culturally rich workplace experience.
Conclusion:
EO Days are a great engagement activity that allows managers to connect with employees on a personal level, strengthen relationships, and create a vibrant and inclusive company culture. By incorporating elements of typical food and drinks of a coworker’s hometown, companies can infuse a sense of excitement and diversity into these interactions, making them even more memorable!
Such initiatives demonstrate a commitment to empowering employees, fostering engagement, and ultimately, driving the success of the organization.
About Cláudio:
Claudio is our CEO and Partner of Damia Group Portugal. He started Damia Portugal in 2017 with the vision to create a company where people loved to work.
He’s a Tech enthusiast, people passionate and a business thinker always looking to achieve the best for himself and his teams.
Innovative, creative and well-humoured, he’s a hands-on manager and a “Stay hungry. Stay foolish” strategist.
He likes to see himself as an entrepreneurial manager that combines skills experience and educational background to achieve excellence in everything he does.
Connect with Cláudio and say hello 👉 www.linkedin.com/in/clamenezes/
We are an international innovative IT recruitment company that kick-@s$ at Tech Recruitment.
We came to Portugal with the promise to shake up the market and redefine how one engages with clients. Our core goal is to develop relationships across the market, and offer a disruptive (but positive!) approach with both clients and candidates, always based on open and transparent communication.
We take the stresses out of recruitment and engage the right professionals who will excel in your organization.
We use out-of-the-box sourcing techniques.
We are innovative, disruptive, transparent, and relaxed.
We came to the market to do it differently and we love it!
