So we’re halfway through 2024 already and I heard that they’re drawing a line under summer and skipping straight to Halloween! – humour courtesy of ‘Very British Problems’ of course – this year’s July has thus far definitely taken a lot of inspiration from October.

Nevertheless, it’s a reminder of how fast time flies. What have we done? What have we achieved? Are we on track? – goals, targets – and so the list goes on. How often have you spent time with your colleagues and team?

It’s that last question that I wanted to focus on and give a small insight into our world. It’s very obvious that hybrid working is here to stay, but it’s still a topic that comes up time and time again – in training programmes, on social media – a regular plethora of posts on LinkedIn – and most of it still talks about how it’s hard, getting the balance right isn’t easy – even the suggestion that ‘everyone just needs to get back to the office’ – the planning and management of it all and the impact it’s having on Gen Z for example. But that’s a whole other story ….

At Interaction we are enormously lucky that hybrid working life for us has become the norm. It’s supported but with a healthy dose of encouragement to spend time together on a regular basis, whether that be in our Bristol office or at one of our homes - face to face is still vitally important! We are learning to get the balance right. As a hybrid training consultancy we’ve overcome all the hurdles and traumas of communicating virtually! It has been quite a journey since March 2020.

But what we do (and we do it well) is ensure that every 6-8 weeks we meet as a complete team. Somewhere ‘off site’.  Even though there is a small number of us this can still be a challenge to get all people in the same place at the same time.

Recently our ‘team time’ was a bit special – it took us to a majestic, and tranquil get-away in the Culm Valley of mid-Devon – Selgars. It’s a private hire, and we had the luxury of an overnight stay in their lovely accommodation followed by a more leisurely team-day than usual. Selgars is a place for both work and play and that we did!

As our team grows it can often be tricky to properly integrate newer members so this was a great ‘getting to know you’ opportunity above all else – to properly meet and feel included. It wasn’t all business as usual – the impressive Selgars Mill is nestled in beautiful leafy grounds that feel a bit magical. The views from the residential area were stunning and waking up to bird song and the sound of a flowing stream was quite special.

As well as sharing our Insights and MBTI preferences, we mapped our individual ‘journey to Interaction’ – in good old fashioned L&D facilitator style – flip chart paper and marker pens were aplenty!

It was a really insightful and dare I say fun exercise! – learning and sharing facts and nuances about each other. As we start our journey as an Inclusive Employer – this environment felt safe and supportive and gave us a lot to ponder. It also spoke quite prominently to our values which we always like to shout about – Care, Connection, Playful and Grounded.

We may have set the bar rather high for the next Team Time – where will that take us? No pressure #TeamInteraction!