Last week, our company had a whole workday dedicated to team building. The morning was dedicated to reviewing our company values and also talking in groups about our SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats). We then ate lunch together before heading to our main event: a team outing to a go kart track at an adrenaline park. Overall, I really enjoyed the day with my team members.
During this experience, I found that firstly talking in groups was very refreshing. I got to hear from team members that I don’t always work closely with. This gave me the ability to hear about some of the things that are positives or also some obstacles they go through day to day that I would have never been aware of. We all talked about things the company is good at and that should be continued and adversely talked about things that we all think could improve through the SWOT analysis. The more communication you have with your team the better. This will ensure that as we grow as a company we can keep our culture and keep our process flowing smoothly.
Secondly, having lunch together with no agenda was great. Everyone got to have amazing food (Mission BBQ, one of the company favorites) whilst chatting with coworkers that we may not even get to see on a daily basis and just spend time with one another. Eating together is known to bring people together, so it was nice we all were able to gather together in those moments.
Thirdly, our team outing with the go karts was fantastic because we all got to have healthy and friendly competition with one another! Some people really surprised me with how good they were at racing. Most importantly, it was a different feeling getting to see everyone in a different environment. This allows people to come out of their shell that they may stay in within the office.
Conclusively, I think that having team outings at least one or twice a year is incredibly important. It helped our company to evaluate, relax, and compete with each other and that creates a tight knit group once back in the office. You get more of a feeling of the people around you especially when the company hires as often as our small business does. Growing pains will be much less painful when you have these kinds of days together.
