Driving the digital Buzz and building company culture

With the coronavirus pandemic affecting every inch of society, as well as reflecting on two years since the launch of our online business, buzzbingo.com, what has come into really sharp focus is that it’s the people and the values and culture that you create in a team that drives innovation and positive change in our industry.

For example, when Covid-19 hit in March, a member of my team called a meeting, completely unprompted, to discuss how we should engage with our customers responsibly at a time when many of them could be vulnerable. It would have been easy for them to suggest the opposite, and it was in this moment that I realised the hard work of the last two years had paid off. We’ve built a culture in our team whereby people can express themselves, be bold, be open, be brave, and challenge the norms and perceptions in gaming, while still being commercially-driven.

When we opened our digital office in Stratford, London, in 2018, before we had launched the buzzbingo.com website, we sat together as a senior team and discussed how we would operate. Not from a technical perspective, but from a leadership perspective. Someone in the team said: “We can benefit from suppliers and existing colleagues if we are nice, humble and get sh*t done!”

It stuck! It became our team motto, to the extent that our CEO had a giant, red wall mount made for me that read, ‘Be nice, be humble & get sh*t done’ to put up proudly in our office.

Quality over quantity

Contrary to belief, size doesn’t matter. We’ve built a lean and agile team that is three to four times smaller than any other digital team I have known. This was and still is a very conscious decision. It’s harder to get sh*t done with red tape and layers. It’s also harder to integrate with the rest of the business and be nice and humble when the team is oversized. It really is, and should be, quality over quantity.

Teams will grow of course, but this approach has been crucial to ‘omnify’ our business in a relatively short space of time. So much so, we have now recruited a new position, an omni-channel manager, and are able to make changes quickly – helpful in the current circumstance when we are navigating a global pandemic for the first time, with twists and turns almost weekly.

Knowing me, knowing you

This omni-channel approach has also allowed us to develop people internally. I myself started in our clubs and moved into digital. Now, almost 25% of my team has done the same. I love this because they understand our customers completely; they have sat with them daily in our clubs and know their personalities – learning to implement strategies digitally is almost the easy part from here. It’s delivering an experience that meets the needs of our customers when you know you have hit the jackpot. Giving opportunities is very important to me and driving positive change and growth in our business.

Our values and culture are a powerful tool in our employer brand, especially in a sector that has, at times, suffered from its own reputation and PR – even with the strides we have made in more recent times, there are people that wouldn’t consider a career in the industry.

I’ve learned from my 20 years in the sector that it’s important for team members to feel confident and able to challenge any issues they face. By being conscious of the issues and facing them head on, it enables a more innovative, forward-thinking approach.

Stevie Shaves has 20 years of experience in gaming, having held senior retail leadership positions with Gala Coral Group before moving into digital roles with Ladbrokes Coral Group, Rank Interactive and Playtech. He joined Buzz Bingo in 2016 and launched its online business in September 2018. Shaves is currently chief digital officer.