May 30, 2017

By Patricia Kopec

2017 has been an exponential year of growth for Intrigue, with a number of new team members, and more to come! Being at the old office (aka house) on Westmount with a team of 15 and moving to a two-story office with a team of 25 has definitely created a challenge in bringing the team together — but providing opportunities for the team to get together, and team building, has always been an important part of Intrigue’s culture.

Last year, we went on our first team camping (or what we call ‘glamping’) trip to Toronto West KOA, and the tradition continued this past May. At KOA, you can enjoy deluxe cabins with amenities that include a playground, camping kitchen, general store, recreational activities, and more.

Our team was divided into cabins and, once everyone was settled in, we split into two groups. One group was responsible for dinner and the other was responsible for lunch the next day. Each team was challenged with creating a menu and a list of ingredients. Dinner included grilled vegetable kabobs, sweet potatoes on the barbeque, chicken skewers, grilled tofu, homemade guacamole, and a mixed green salad (yummy). I’m not kidding when I say we have one of the healthiest teams around!

After dinner, the team enjoyed bonding and relaxing over a bonfire, and listening to a strange arrangement of music from the 80s and 90s — rock, rap, and somehow Nickleback managed to slip in there!

Team building

Friday morning we enjoyed a delicious breakfast buffet at the Mohawk Chop House. Once the team was fed and energized, we headed back to the campground for some team activities.

One of our cultural values at Intrigue is ‘Take Action, Discover Solutions’. Our team went through an activity where we were split into groups. Two groups were across from each other at a picnic table and they were prevented from seeing what was on the other side of the table. Next, each team arranged a dinner table setup in a unique manner. After one minute, one member from each group went to the other team’s side of the table to view their setup. After 30 seconds, they returned to their team to guide them in arranging their dinner table setup to match the other team’s, all without talking. This activity was a great exercise that helped our group examine different ways to solve problems. It also gave us an opportunity to discuss the varying, and successful, strategies that each team employed.

As a team, we believe that there is always more than one way to solve a problem, and when we come together to brainstorm, we find and share more creative and efficient ways to come up with solutions.

For our next activity, we did trust falls —self explanatory right? Being a close-knit group, trust falls weren’t a problem for anyone. We captured some hilarious faces and the team had a lot of fun. It’s truly incredible to see the amount of trust we have in one another.

Team culture

As an organization, we know the power and importance of bringing your team together — greater trust is formed and your culture strengthens. When everyone works well together, decision making becomes easier, and workflow is improved.

If you have any questions about team building, or how to improve your team’s culture, call us at 519-265-4933 :).

Tricia wants to ensure your experience with Intrigue is awesome! She helps non-profits, businesses, and communities grow together. Tricia assists the sales team in business development. Outside of work she is an avid tea drinker, world traveller and loves getting active and cooking healthy.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *