Work Together, Play Together, Excel Together

What do a wild bunch of Cisconians with a passion for the written word, a wicked sense of humor, and a singular focus on customer experience all have in common? For starters, you get ten Cisco employees who are part of the Security Business Group Technical Publications team in Bangalore India. The Security Business Group Technical Publications team authors and publishes a wide variety of end-user documentation that helps our users setup and work with Cisco Firewall products and our Email and Web Security products.

Our team is a diverse bunch – with tenures at Cisco ranging from six months to eight years – and we subscribe to the Cisco ideals of mutual respect, integrity, innovation, and courage.

Our weekly meetings are usually effervescent, exciting interactions with ideas that keep bouncing off the walls of Andaman – our meeting room in the Bangalore office. We are encouraged to ideate and think boldly, even at the risk of failure. Because failure as we all know is just a stepping stone to success. We all understand that this is a core culture concept here at Cisco.

In our meetings, routine work discussions apart, we leverage ideas from the newer members, and seasoned writers alike; we share best practices by going through trainings individually and collectively, and we are constantly looking at what the competition is doing and how to outrun them. We also take the time to discuss mindfulness, meditation, yoga, and exercise – and how they all can influence our productivity at work.

We value and respect everyone on the team because we handpicked people for the very unique qualities and abilities they bring to the table. Each member of our team has come on board through an exhaustive interview process, accompanied by glowing referrals; this complements Cisco’s emphasis on individuality. We want the absolute best people working here, with the greatest talent – and I think we have found that here on my team.

Because we work together and play together – it follows, that we excel together.

Here are the ways we connect on our team –

1.Bonding Outside the Office: As a newer Cisco team, we make an effort to nurture synergies not only through discourse but also through conduct. We routinely plan activities that help us socialize and understand each other – our strengths and weaknesses, even outside the work environment. From go-karting and bowling to a game of laser tag or the occasional Escape Room event – we look forward to finding moments to get to know one another further.

2.Giving Back: As part of Cisco’s Time to Give initiative, we visit a local cancer hospice every quarter to help them with tasks around the facility. We help them cook their meals, mow their lawn, prepare surgical dressing material, clean their premises and organize games for the patients. This experience helps to keep us grounded in our otherwise busy lives and each visit to the hospice has been a lesson in grace, humility and gratitude.

3.Reflecting and Meditating: Recently, the team had a two-day off-site to get some respite from the mundane work life routine, and to re-connect to ourselves and foster a greater sense of camaraderie within the team. It was a fantastic exercise – we spent several hours brainstorming about ideas, reflecting on the past year, and getting to understand our personas better, in an environment unencumbered by day-to-day work and home pressures. In addition to enjoying the in-house facilities at the resort, we played charades, took long walks, practiced yoga and unwound from the stresses of urban living.

What have these three events helped us to accomplish? Our strategizing at the offsite has helped us to stay engaged with our projects on a day-to-day basis, and due to our bonding both at the offsite and outside of normal work hours – we are a more cohesive team now. Giving back and relaxation are an important part of our lives –it makes us feel good to give what we can to others, and eases our mind of stresses when meditating or practicing yoga. This enables us to tackle anything that may come our way, together.

In addition to our assigned responsibilities, each of us is working on an innovation idea that will improve our customer experience. Several of our ideas have found executive level backing and we feel empowered by Cisco’s faith in us!

Cisco’s value system emphasizes People, Relationships and Trust. We, in the Security Technical Publications Team have simply adopted this principle and are clearly excelling as a team by working together and playing together.

Want to be part of the team? We’re hiring. Apply now. If this particular team interests you, click the “Apply now” link and use ‘Security Technical Publications’ or ‘Security Technical Writing’ to search for available opportunities.