Team Building Day

Background
Cambridge Water (CW) is ranked among the UK's top water companies; the Company is keen to maintain this success and motivate its staff to continuous improvement. They wanted a staff event that would improve internal communication, raise awareness of the Company's values, showcase roles and skills across the organisation and develop leadership and individual responsibility. This was the first time that Cambridge Water had planned a staff event on such a scale.

Consultation & Programme Development
Fresh Tracks facilitators met with senior staff at CW to identify key messages and discuss how we might communicate them in a fun and informal conference programme. We suggested a mix of presentations and team activities to get staff thinking about the main issues of communication and continuous improvement. To ensure that we delivered the specific objectives, we wanted to include some highly customised elements focusing on CW's staff and their successes: we therefore suggested making a short film about the company and using a staff engagement survey to get input from staff before and during the event. We continued to liaise with CW until the programme was exactly right. We then worked with CW's chosen venue on layout and menu requirements, AV and set-up.

"Because this was the first time we had run such an event we weren't sure what to expect. We were reassured by Fresh Tracks' willingness to maintain regular contact and help us at every stage."

ColorVote Survey
Working with CW we came up with a tailored survey to be sent to staff before the conference. This engagement survey comprises a series of statements about the organisation with which staff agree or disagree; anonymous responses highlighted clearly the extent to which staff were aware of values, how they felt about the Company and their role within it. The results - enormously positive for Cambridge Water - were reviewed on the day of the conference.

Company Film
In the months before the event a film crew interviewed staff across the organisation, capturing a wide range of job roles, responsibilities and personalities. The result was a fun and hugely informative film in which staff spoke about what they did, why they enjoyed it and how it contributed to the organisation's success.

"The company film was a really powerful tool. As well as being fun to watch it was very professional and hugely informative. Staff loved it - to the extent that we ordered one copy of the film for every member of staff."

The Conference
On the day itself, our facilitator managed the programme and introduced each element of the conference. These included a fun icebreaker in which staff created "hobby & interest" name badges for each other, a presentation by the CEO, a screening of the film and a review of the ColorVote results. A session after tea then combined team activities with discussions focusing on living the Company's values and how to maintain continuous improvement. Post-It feedback from all participants identified practical ideas and suggestions for developing success before the day closed with prizes and thanks to all.

Outcomes
The conference, combined with the ColorVote survey and the film in which many took part, offered staff a voice and a chance to take an active part in Cambridge Water's continuing success. It highlighted the range of skills across the organisation, showed how individuals contribute to the organisation and allowed teams and departments to find out more about each other.

"Staff clearly got a lot out of the day by having a chance to get together and find
out a bit more about how the company works."