How I discovered the greatest culture booster you’ve never heard of

We all want connection. It transcends industry, role type, gender, and age. We know that more connected we are the more fun we will have together, and the better we will be at selling our product or supporting our customers. It’s why HR has the enormous job of bringing people together through various activities to build culture. But how often do we get past the ‘water cooler chat’? How often do we push past the tedium of weekend conversations and really dive in to the good stuff? The stuff that makes your office neighbour want to scream and shout and raises the hair on the back of your CFO’s neck?! How often are we genuinley inspired by the people around us?

 At the start of Victoria’s lockdown I began hosting an internal radio show in which I (metaphorically) cast one of my colleagues to a deserted island. With them they may take five records, a luxury item and a book. It’s a live interview which the rest of the business listens in on. It’s a copy cat of BBC’s Desert Island Discs – hailed as one of the greatest radio programs of all time. It was developed in war-time London to make life slightly more bearable. Fittingly it’s been a revelation for myself and our business as we’ve navigated social distancing and lockdown!

The beauty of the sessions has been that every track that the guests share, they tell us why they picked it and how it’s related to their life story. We listen to the track together and we’re transported to the same place as our colleague, at the same time. Some highlights include:

•  Shout to the Top (Style Council) – One of our Directors talked me through his days growing up in gloomy Blackpool and how these lyrics always help him strive for betterment professionally and personally.
• All together now (The Farm) – Our own scouser took me back to the streets of Liverpool and his days growing up obsessed with music, football and boxing.
• We are family (Sister Sledge) – Detroit’s own paid respect to her sisters and mum and the blessings and lessons they’d taught her about life.
• What a wonderful world (Israel Kamakawiwoʻole) – The song one of our Directors listens to every morning with her kids which always puts the world in perspective.
• Henry – Keb Mo – one of our longest serving colleagues talked us through his family’s emigration to Australia and the reason he wears a smile everyday.

There have been laughs, tears, memories and philosophies. What I’ve realised is, the song choices are really a question about life. They're about dreams, hopes, fears, family, identity. This is the good stuff. It's what makes us unique but also connected to our office neighbour in ways we would have never been vulnerable enough to know.

The next time you’re planning a team excursion – why not try the deserted island?