One Friday I got a call from an NGO asking me: we’re looking for a facilitator but first we need to know, are you free next Thursday?
Fortunately I have been keeping my calendar closed for coaching appointments on Thursdays. Why? So I could keep a big block of time for other stuff: business strategy, events, and quite frankly to do whatever I wanted.
It was liberating to know that each week I had space for opportunities.
So I said yes, and asked them to tell me what they had in mind so I could decide whether it was worth giving up my free day for it
It was a small team (who’d have guessed?) and they mostly worked remotely and had this one day to come together for some team building work.
Once we discussed what they wanted, and I shared what I would facilitate for them, I was asked to submit a proposal.
While I was looking forward to a day off and maybe going for a bit of a walkabout and part of me wanted to not work, I was excited about this team. The leader is just the kind of person I love to work with: collaborative, kind, clear vision, willing to ask for help.
So we agreed and I got to go to Utrecht for this team day. Such a lovely team.
Six people in the team. Five of them at the location, and one dialling in from Indonesia. Hybrid facilitating that worked.
And I remember one of them saying something important.
“I’ve done team building days before, when I was in large teams. But I’ve not done it in a small team like this before. Small teams need these days too”.
All teams need time to build connection outside of the day to day activities, no matter how small.
And this is my favourite bit of feedback that I’ve ever had from a team day:
“we went to dinner afterwards and we’ve had dinners before. But the conversation at dinner was different this time: more depth, more listening, a more natural flow of conversation”.
Ah, that makes me feel good. That’s a sign of a better connected team, of a team in flow.
If you’re managing a small team, then give them a team day. You’ll thank yourself for it.
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