Last week we got together for our first in-person Team Day in over two years. Over the course of the event we met new colleagues, caught up as a team and discussed what our future holds. Here's how we made the most out of the day.
With three Chesterton House companies and sister company WFP, our Team Day serves as a valuable opportunity for everyone to spend time together, learn more about the businesses and the role of their colleagues, and remind ourselves of our mission and purpose. Our Team Day is a tradition - we've been hosting them for 10 years, and every event brings something new and exciting to the table.
This year's theme was 'Working Together,' and after a year of lockdowns it was great to come together and meet face to face. Indeed, many of us were able to meet colleagues who we have worked alongside but never actually met in person due to the restrictions.
On the morning of the Team Day, everyone arrived at the venue bright and early to get a coffee and chat with their colleagues before the day began. Our venue was Burleigh Court, the award-winning conference centre attached to Loughborough University, and we are fortunate to be able to use their excellent facilities for our meetings. Once everyone was settled in their seats, we kicked the event off with an introduction from our Company Chairman, Andy Jervis, who welcomed new and old faces to the Team Day and highlighted some of our successes from over the past year.
Our 'Successes' video was a testament to how much we've grown, showing that we've welcomed 28 new people to the team, that our companies have achieved recognised accreditations and supported charities, and highlighted the progress of individual team members with their studies, promotions and even babies throughout the year!
See for yourself in the video below.
For the next part of the event we focused on getting to know our colleagues. A big part of the reason we host a Team Day is so that our teams can speak to people they usually wouldn't come across at work. We set out a seating plan so that people across the business could get to know one another, not just as colleagues but as friends.
To build on this we introduced 'The Innerview Questionnaire' which helped develop deeper conversations with each other, prompting us to ask questions about each other's lives, to find out what motivates us, how we've come to be where we are and what we're looking for in the future.
After a coffee break we began to talk about Chesterton House as a company. We discussed our guiding principles, including our complete focus on our clients, why it's important to listen to one another, to have processes in place and to be great at what we do to thrive individually and as a team.
We were also proud to introduce the Chesterton House Foundation, a charity that will support local causes, helping to make a difference in our community and beyond. This is in the early stages of development, but it's something we've been focusing on for a while and you'll be hearing lots more about it as it comes to fruition this year.
We sent everyone off for a lunch break before reconvening for the afternoon when we asked everyone to step into 'The Line of Duty' to solve a murder. We had invited ADP Events team to lead us in the form of 'Tenshire Constabulary,' and they presented their case complete with CCTV images, finger prints and officer records. Their aim was to find out if any 'police officers' were implicated in a murder and whether they were part of an organised crime group. The competition was tense with teams poring over the evidence to find out the answer.
Following a drum roll, the winners were picked and the day was completed with a short speech from Andy, thanking everyone for attending and congratulating everyone for a clearly successful day.
And so our 2022 Annual Team Day drew to a close. We've since had some great feedback telling us how much everyone enjoyed the day, and how it helped put into perspective just how much Chesterton House has grown over the past few years. We're extremely proud of all our staff and look forward to another fantastic year as part of this company. If you're speaking to one of them soon, why not ask how they enjoyed it and what they got out of the day? They'll be pleased to tell you.
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