Last week we ran Team Week 2024 in Perth, and it was a very intense, but very fun week! This year's was very special because it's also the twenty year anniversary of Gaia Resources.
Most of our team members who are not based in Perth spent Monday travelling. We make sure that people get to keep as much of their weekends as possible here, so we get the team to travel on the Monday and Friday - but give everyone the option to stay for an extra weekend if they want to on either side and explore - part of our travelling for work arrangements. A few of the team did just that - came in early, or stayed late to make the most of their trip to Perth to do some sightseeing, or catch up with the rest of the team.
On the Tuesday we all met up at the Maali conference centre at the Perth Zoo. This was a great venue; it was bright and shiny and new, and the team there are very well organised. We can definitely recommend it to anyone who is looking for a venue where you not only get a great experience, but also get to duck out in the breaks and go for a wander around the Zoo! I had a really nice gentle start to the day myself - making the most of public transport to catch the ferry across to South Perth in the morning sun!
We started the day with an icebreaker; who are you, what do you do at Gaia Resources and where were you 20 years ago when Gaia Resources was being founded? This was a fun exercise, where we handed out some new 'swag' for the team, but also learned a fair bit about the team - as well as how old I am, as some of the team were only just born.
Our more serious part of the Strategy day had four components this year:
- Strategy Overview - where I talked about the future of the company,
- Management Briefings - where Andrew (our Finance Manager), Tanya (our Operations Manager) and Justine (our People and Culture Manager) presented on their areas,
- Estimation Workshop - where we ran an estimation workshop across the whole company - a hands on approach to how we estimate projects for the future, and
- Leaders Workshop - where we spent time with our Functional Leads, Cultural Champions and our Work Leads to discuss how we can all work together better.
Our Strategy Overview session was where I focused us on four main areas: our mission, our business, our values and our future. These things help us to keep on track; our mission points us to where we want to be - making the world a better place, while our business and values keeps us on that track. And our future is my way of explaining what's coming for the team in the next period of time, covering all sorts of topics like our rebranding, some minor organisational design changes, our roles, the work that's coming, and how we work as a management team.
I was particularly pleased with the management team presenting on their areas; this to me is a sign of how far we've come as a company. To now have almost 40 people on board, and to be able to have that management spread out across a number of us is a sign of the maturity we now have as a company.
Our estimation workshop was designed to be something a little light hearted. I got to play a role as a client while the team put together an estimate of a fictional project for me. That was a bit of fun, and a few of the team got roped on on the day (thanks, fictional Trev and Shazza, for your help!) to help provide a bit more colour and fun to the session, which was quite eye-opening for some of the team who don't regularly participate in that sort of work.
The leaders session was also a great highlight for me - getting our Functional Leads, Cultural Champions and Work Leads in a room to discuss how we could work together is a good way to just further reinforce the support structure we've developed in the company - which leads to what I think is a much more robust structure than a "traditional" command and control type hierarchy.
After the day, we went off to the wonderful Bishops House for a team dinner - we couldn't think of a venue that would beat this one, as we went there in 2022 for our previous team week dinner and everyone raved about it. That was a great way to unwind and catch up with the team again in a much more relaxed environment.
The main aim of the strategy day was to make sure that everyone knew each other, and we did a 'reset' on things like our company values and culture, and set us up for the future to work well together. From the feedback, that was something we managed to achieve. The rest of the week had more of a team building vibe - so stay tuned for another blog about our "Shenanigans Day"!
In the meantime, if you want to know more then drop me a line, or start a conversation with us on our social media channels.
Piers