Bringing the outside in: a team meeting about us, not the numbers

By Alex Owers

Rather than pruning over financials already accrued and projected, the masterminds of our quarterly Atlantic team meeting – Meg and Hannah – opted for something a little bit different… 

They designed a session with two intertwined objectives.  

• To learn a bit more about each other; our likes and hobbies, experiences and oddities, and to reflect on how our interests outside of work inform and shape who we are at work 

• To reflect on those interests and experiences and identify some ways in which we could make work feel more meaningful and rewarding in times of stress 

In advance of the session, Meg and Hannah set the team some homework: create a one-pager on an interest, hobby or experience that energizes us and offers lessons we have carried into our work lives. 

In the session itself, we started off by breaking out into two pods, in which each individual shared back their hobby / interest / experience (replete with images on printed-out sheets of A4) and how it has been useful or instructive for us at work. 

We discovered that among the team we have: 

• a budding sailor, whose maritime analogies reminded us that sometimes it’s important to stay your course, even when the wind tempts a change in direction;  

• a passionate photographer, who mused that no two people will take the same picture of the same scene – and that diversity of perspectives is not just natural, but something to be celebrated and nurtured;  

• and there’s the chorister, whose journey from “I can’t sing” to delivering solos of wide acclaim, echoed a timeless truth: growth begins the moment you step out of your comfort zone. 

And that’s just to name a few. We’re also home to gamers and puzzlers, trail running fanatics and cross-fit junkies, Japanophiles, German-language learners, and many more. 

After colliding our thoughts as one we had a brief intermission, after which we broke off into two (new) groups, this time reflecting on the things that energize and drain us. 

Once again, our collective meditations sprouted all sorts of ideas. But, if there was one theme that spoke to both sides of the energizer / drainer coin, it was collaboration. It was clear that collaboration, in the form analysis sessions, downloads, project check-ins and beyond, were key sources of energy, and often represented the best opportunity for those outside-of-work learnings to manifest and be leveraged. And indeed, a lack of collaboration – feeling cut adrift from your team, feeling like project delivery is riding entirely on you, not seeing, speaking and ideating with each other regularly and in-person, were all of our biggest drainers. 

So, what was the key takeaway from the day?

Collaboration thrives when we truly know one another—our passions, quirks, and perspectives. The better we understand each other, the more energy, trust, and creativity we bring to the work we do.