Several weeks ago our Downing Team started a Friday morning off together as we do a handful of times throughout the year. Rarely are we not missing at least one, but it continues to be a great space to simply come together, spend time together, learn about continued efforts being made to make us better, and hone in on specific challenges (or as I like to refer to them....opportunities!) we're faced with in the moment and what's yet to be figured out.
On that particular Friday I took them through a barrage of teambuilding exercises. I grouped them and gave them a task with very little instruction or time to understand it before making them complete it. I paired them and made them build a paper airplane with their non-dominant hands and didn't care who's flew the farthest. I ran them through ripping a piece of paper exactly as I did in 5 steps and 8 seconds flat without stopping to show them the last step one more time.
None of these exercises were about the end result. They were all about identifying ways we lack in our abilities to effectively communicate with one another in the rapid fire world we live in and how we react to it. I saw frustration, I heard nervous laughter, I witnessed some SO competitive, and some who didn't even try. It's funny how all of it shows up in so many interactions we have... all the time... at work... at home... in this relationship... and that one too...
I also saw people helping one another, some slowing themselves down so the group could go faster. I heard people encouraging others, and celebrating together. I saw people being the best versions of themselves and it encouraged me!
As Chief People Officer at Downing, I get to be focused on our people. I get to spend the time to understand them individually as professionals and more importantly, humans so that as our Team of 49 is headed in that many different directions, they can feel supported. Each one unique and a specific part of the whole.
It's weeks later and I'm still thinking about what our Team did that morning. It's time to create more Friday morning opportunities like this and watch as the responsibility we have to each other becomes our biggest focus and factor of true success!
#TeamDowning
Senior Manager PHA Sales
9moSome really great people work here!!