Working as a team

It’s funny, we have worked as part of a team for as long as we can remember, but earlier this year we were out and about on the road so much, we felt we became a little disconnected. We didn’t see some people for a couple of weeks, we weren’t involved in office chat, we missed out on various pieces of communication, you know, those water cooler chats (actually, we don’t have a water cooler, we have a fridge with Prosecco in it as many of you know). We felt a bit like lone ships at times. Of course, we are lucky to have such a fantastic team, so we supported each other and those in the office, kept those out and about on the straight and narrow. What was interesting though was the fact we did not realise how disconnected we had become until lockdown.

In lock down, we were no longer out on the road. We were sat in our home offices and every morning we had a team chat. We can honestly say we have never felt as closely connected to each other as we did through lockdown. It made us realise that up to that point we hadn’t taken the time to connect on the same level, because we ‘got busy’! The first thing we did when we got back together in November was commit and agree to how we wanted it to be, because we recognised the power of us as a team.

• We have agreed to use the collaboration tools available to us, so if we’re not in the office when there is a meeting we simply dial in.

• We use WhatsApp as a social chat – so now we are all part of the office chat.

• We are working towards agreeing a company song (Kylie M is the top contender at the moment.

• When we are together we make sure we have time to walk down the farm track to check in on each other and also discuss work, share ideas and pick each other’s brains.

The message is simple. We all ‘get busy’, that will never change. Now let’s get ‘mindful’. Mindful of the fact that with the tools available to us, there are no excuse to harness the power of the team.

Our challenge to you

What are you going to do to harness your teams’ power?

If you would like support in harnessing the power of the team, please get in touch for a chat. Remember funding is available too if you are in Leeds city region. Contact the team.