Only connect
Now more than ever, the power of human connection is essential to building strong and efficient teams, as Graham Alderman, Ulterior Events’ managing director, illustrates…
Graham Alderman, Ulterior Events’ managing director
Graham Alderman, Ulterior Events’ managing director
The working world has changed dramatically since early 2020, when working from home became the norm overnight. While there were various tales of initial productivity boosts as companies switched to remote working, as time’s worn on, many of those same teams are tired, burnt out and unmotivated. Integral parts of team bonding, and positive company culture just disappeared.
Zoom, Skype and Teams have kept the show on the road for the last 18 months, but virtual meetings don’t work for everything. It’s hard to reacquaint teams and to build a dynamic company culture when your employees all work remotely. The answer can’t be to demand everyone returns to the office. Instead, at Ulterior Events, we’re seeing a distinct rise in inquiries for ‘reconnect’ trips.
Coming together in a physical sense even just for a few days can aid collaboration and communication in swathes. Me and my team saw this first hand earlier this month when, 16 months later than first planned, we hosted a group of 75 colleagues from two countries for a financial services client. Seeing as the company isn’t going to force their teams back to the office anytime soon, this was a golden opportunity to bring their team back together.
This was a golden opportunity to bring their team back together.
We crafted the trip to include a perfect balance of socialising, adventure, team-building and leisure time. Once we’d navigated the latest entry, testing, and quarantine requirements for the attendees (no mean feat in itself!), we gathered the group together at The Runnymede on Thames, a lovely, homely hotel with impeccable service.
After a year and a half without being together it was a total privilege to see the huge smiles on faces as colleagues reunited for their ‘Reconnect Retreat.’ Social distancing was long gone and replaced with hugs and happiness.
One of the biggest considerations was that a quarter of the group had started at the company during the pandemic, so seating plans and team activities were stage-managed to ensure those 20 new starters met new faces at every opportunity.
A big highlight of the getaway was Dragon Boat Racing on Dorney Lake, a high-octane experience that provided that all-important opportunity for established directors to team up with junior execs to battle it out and get to know one another in a fun environment. Later in the evening, work friendships were rekindled, new connections were made, and the teams were united as Oasis’s Wonderwall echoed under the arches in Windsor through the medium of karaoke.
In terms of team building, one of the new joiners told us on departure that she’d got to know her immediate team better in two-and-a-half days away than she had in six months on back-to-back Zooms. This isn’t at all surprising, but it is a reminder of how important real-life connection is.
Social distancing was long gone and replaced with hugs and happiness.
We can wax lyrical on the benefits of travelling together with colleagues and experiencing new things together - from inspiring people to do their best to enhancing performance and creating lifelong business relationships. These same benefits ring true for ‘reconnect’ trips, they boost loyalty to a company and colleagues that is difficult to replicate in any other way. Our client witnessed the benefits throughout the trip, has reported benefits since and now plans to schedule regular team offsites to keep building company culture and loyalty.
Among the other ‘reconnect’ itineraries we’re currently building, several briefs are from companies who haven’t historically held offsites but who, after the uncertainty and stress of the last 18 months, are looking to bring everyone together, to recharge and to celebrate getting through tough times together.
Other briefs have come from clients we’ve arranged retreats for in the past but this time around budgets are bigger and their requests more extravagant - they saved money on office rent and expenses during the pandemic and now want to treat staff and show them they’re valued.
We hope, once our clients have all ‘reconnected’ face-to-face that ‘connect’ trips will become a regular event - strengthening relationships, sparking creativity and re-energising teams.
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