This month we had the opportunity to get together with our colleagues at RED C, spending time getting to know each other both on a more personal and professional basis as we look forward to 2025 and beyond.
It’s always a challenge to ask so many people to take time out from the ‘day job’ when there’s a lot going on, but the session reiterated the value and purpose that spending time with other people can bring such as:
- Improving communication between one another by better understanding someone else’s perspective – something that is challenging to do when you’re just a face on a screen
- Promoting diversity in thought through serendipitous interactions (and creating space for them to happen) – especially when you find out something new about colleagues that leads conversations down a road of shared experiences
- Elevating voices that may otherwise not be heard and ensuring everyone gets to have their say, not just the presenter or online meeting host
This isn’t designed to be a post extoling the virtues of returning to an office – we know that our team work differently in different environments and there’s a time and a place for working in a shared space versus a remote space. It is, however, a post that is designed to reflect on what we once had and perhaps took for granted in pre-Covid times without being mindful of the benefits that spending time with others brings.
The energy of the session meant that I stepped away full of ideas and optimism about how we all could bring new thinking & new insights to our clients, as well as making and strengthening the connections and bonds that make up the fabric of the cultures of both Relish & RED C. The challenge now is to come up with ways to better that experience the next time we’re all sharing the same space together.
Until then.
-Simon Thompson
Managing Director