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Why a strategy away day in the wild?Space Doctors are passionate about creating a meaningful future. They want to bring the whole company together, away from the confines of the office, at the start of a week of planning meetings. Because they work across three locations and therefore don’t get to spend a lot physical time together, leadership want to ensure the meetings are as powerful and useful as possible, by getting away from the office to re-establish relationships, and to bring out the best in the team, before they move into the rest of the week’s meetings. They want to use the time to establish some group values by involving everyone in reflecting on how they stay connected across their three locations, and how they can live the values of a responsible business. |
Their challenge
"How can we live the values of a responsible business and bring more congruence to client work?"
What we did
Space Doctors wanted to connect their offices, and to do some future planning.
Seated in a circle around a fire in the woods, we started with a sensory awareness exercise to bring everyone’s heads into the woods, and open up some headspace for the day.
After a round of checkins and introductions, we then led them straight into a team fire making challenge.
The challenge is designed to replicate the experience of being based in different offices - to help them all think about how they work together.
They formed into different fire groups, made up of people from all levels in the organisation.
We explained each stage of making a fire to one person from each fire group. Regardless of whether they are a manager or a junior, they then had to explain that stage to a different fire group, and mentor that other group through it.
There are four stages in making a fire, the challenge was: could they explain what’s needed to a team in a different location, without doing it for them, and could that team work together to get the job done?
It’s a little tricky.
Seated in a circle around a fire in the woods, we started with a sensory awareness exercise to bring everyone’s heads into the woods, and open up some headspace for the day.
After a round of checkins and introductions, we then led them straight into a team fire making challenge.
The challenge is designed to replicate the experience of being based in different offices - to help them all think about how they work together.
They formed into different fire groups, made up of people from all levels in the organisation.
We explained each stage of making a fire to one person from each fire group. Regardless of whether they are a manager or a junior, they then had to explain that stage to a different fire group, and mentor that other group through it.
There are four stages in making a fire, the challenge was: could they explain what’s needed to a team in a different location, without doing it for them, and could that team work together to get the job done?
It’s a little tricky.
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While their team mates are getting the instructions for each stage, the remaining members of each group worked on a rap about fire, and are given questions to think about while they’re doing it.
It takes about an hour.
Engagement was high, and regardless of their level, they are good at mentoring and leading each other and all groups successfully got their fires going: there’s also lots of laughing and chatting, and discussion over rap lyrics.
Back in the circle, the group shared reflections and insights on what they learned about working together:
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Making lunch together
Next, in small groups of people who don’t usually work together, the group prepared and cooked all parts of a delicious lunch, using the fires that they’d made, and including some wild ingredients. They chatted while doing it.
It was a relaxed and fun way of bringing people together.
After lunch, the groups performed their raps. They were all brilliant, and funny!
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Business Issue workshop After a short trust exercise to get people back in the zone, we moved into the strategic part of the day. Designed to get the whole group involved in contributing to a meaningful discussion on the questions they’ve brought. Using a walk n talk, we asked them to talk about: what do you want the Space Doctors legacy to be? Back in the full circle, the pairs shared their ideas. We organised them into the themes that surfaced, and then moved into small breakout groups: what does that mean in terms of what you’re doing and how you’re doing it? What can you start doing, stop doing, continue doing, or do differently? |
What happened
Ideas, points and feelings that came up
Although we like to help move groups from insights and ideas to actions, Space Doctors have opened up a lot together, so they decided to carry on talking about ideas, and to agree actions during the rest of their planning week.
These were some of the talking points:
Although we like to help move groups from insights and ideas to actions, Space Doctors have opened up a lot together, so they decided to carry on talking about ideas, and to agree actions during the rest of their planning week.
These were some of the talking points:
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What they said
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At a time when business as usual is no longer sustainable, this time gave us valuable distance and the headspace and perspective to reevaluate what we do, for tomorrow.
Dr Fiona McNae
CEO / Space Doctors
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A day very well spent. Nigel and the teams' guidance was carefully delivered, credible and appreciated by all. Thank you, thank you. I’m loving watching the positive ripples from this time now we're 'back to work
Dr Fiona McNae
CEO / Space Doctors
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...enabled us to use nature to think about things from different perspectives
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