The brief

“Create the right conditions for people to relax, get to know each other, recognise common challenges and to develop actions for a more collaborative approach.

Help us create a memorable, different and fun event for the first gathering of Aviva’s 40 UK-based strategy professionals, from six different parts of the UK.

Business objectives were to create an atmosphere that helped participants to conversations that matter – real workplace conversations to seek opportunities for collaborative working across Aviva UK strategy teams.

The solution

A day and a night in three huge connected tepees adorned with Arabian carpets in stunning surroundings, further enhanced by a campfire under the stars.

The programme included:

• People Bingo - everyone named their biggest life achievement, packed full of surprises and really got the energy buzzing
• Salsa Drumming session - a shared experience of creative teamworking and original composition
• Voluntary early morning renewal exercises such as Tai Chi
• A Parkinson-style interview with the strategy director talking about the recent Aviva world-wide senior executives conference
• Symbolic sculpture – teams collaborated with each other to creat sculptures which symbolised how they perceived collaboration within the company
• Team presentations – sharing real workplace issues and seeking collaboration opportunities

All these led up to the main session in the afternoon - the World Café - where multiple and concurrent in-depth but informal conversations took place, resulting in clear actions and people self-nominating for taking them forwards.

Why it worked

Participants were constantly surprised and intrigued. It smashed the training and development stereotypes. The venue is a Wizard partner which meant there was free rein to create the experience.

What some of the participants thought

“Venue and events management were excellent; Informal and creative atmosphere, tents, newspaper cafe´ and morning exercise were all real plus points”

“Well organised; good location, particularly plentiful refreshments; good that we dared to be a bit different - Thanks for putting in all the effort to make it work so well”

“It was clear that significant thought and effort had been put in to making this event successful and it worked very well indeed. Well done!”

What the client thought

“It was awesome. The drumming and sculpture were a major highlight and people were really impressed by the tents. Such a refreshing way to break down the barriers and the sense of collaboration really came through.

People who don’t think of themselves as creative were doing great stuff, there was a lot of laughter and energy. The feedback has been terrific.”

Rod Butcher
Aviva client

And the impact longer term?

“People now realise they are part of a bigger group and are using the contacts they made.

We’ve seen people meeting each other and learning from each other. The initial barrier has gone and people are more connected which is vital for the growth of the business.”

Rod Butcher
Aviva client