We recognise different levels of team-working at Greystoke – those that need to work closely together, sharing goals, rewards and penalties (teams), and those that work individually but with a common purpose.
We were approached by a group of regional newspapers to broaden and deepen
the areas of contact between the people working on the different publications.
Each weekend course involved people from across the spectrum of titles and
a series of team building and initiative exercises was held around the estate
on the Saturday, starting with small-scale ice-breakers and progressing to
more serious and demanding exercises to increase the adrenaline level. These
culminated in exposure to a high ropes course and, immediately after the event,
the group spent the night in a mountain hut.
The frankness, tolerance and honesty that surfaced during the day of activities
enabled each group to have a really productive discussion on that last evening.
The ultimate effects were as we had planned: feedback from the various groups
was uniformly positive; contacts made on the courses expanded existing networks
and socialising in the organisation and significant new ideas for the business
were generated during the weekend.
