Connection and Collaboration at Schoenen Torfs Purchasing Team
On a sunny day in Dendermonde, the buying team of Schoenen Torfs spent a full day at CASA CAVA. A diverse team of 13 people, consisting of introverted buyers, extroverted creative types and a dynamic merchandising team, ranging from young to old.
The retail chain has been elected “Great place to work” for the 10th time in a row. The best employer in Belgium. Their corporate culture is therefore top notch, with a constant investment in the growth of their people. This collaboration is just one of the many pillars that Schoenen Torfs focuses on.
Very proud that we can help solve the puzzle with mossels from brossels.
In this article
It all starts with preparation
Exploratory conversations
Before we could propose a good program, it was very important to look at the challenges with the team manager, Luc, and HR manager, Kim. In this first phase, we got a better view of possible difficulties the team was facing, what experience the team already had and how the team dynamics were going. These short conversations were crucial to create a good program tailored to the group. In a short follow-up moment, we presented the program. In this way, everyone was reassured about the methods used.
Goals for the team?
- Connecting the islands more strongly for a closer and more effective team
- Examining collaboration in an accessible way
- Exposing patterns in a safe way
- Lots of exercise and active day
- Have fun and laugh a lot 🙂
Check-in, warm-up, set-up.
Warm up gently. Coffee. Check in. Make sure everyone is there both physically and mentally. You don't run a marathon without training. The program was full of small exercises to relax body and mind. Linked to creativity and collaboration.
Energizers to loosen the body and mind
When the scope is clear, the body and mind must follow. With a low-threshold exercise, related to the rest of the day, you warm up the brain and put the team to work for the first time.
Here we used the exercise of “Blind Square”. Blindfolded, make a perfect square by working together. Satisfied with the result? Blindfold off. Hopefully you are not in the bushes 🙂
Easily examine collaboration
15 theses
We presented the team with 15 statements about collaboration. The team members had 30 seconds to stand in the room and let each other know how they scored. "Wouldn't we score differently if we could do this anonymously?" => Of course, this information reveals so much about how much trust there is between them. After the game, the team received a score for their collaboration and we discussed lessons learned. We created actions and determined steps that needed to be taken.
Naming and pronouncing actions
What do we take with us to our own team? What steps are we going to take in the future? Identifying concrete actions is crucial to ensure progress.
Flexible continuation of the day
Depending on the outcome of the discussions, we had developed a flexible follow-up. This was based on Lencioni's model of the 5 frustrations of teamwork.
Trust, feedback, commitment, responsibility and results.
In this we decided to work on trust and get to know each other even better.
Fun exercises to get to know each other better.
With a variation of energizers from “crawl over the ladder together”. To a clue game in which we had to guess who the murderer was, with which murder weapon and with what motive.
In this way, the team members learned each other's strengths and weaknesses in a fun way. What drives you in your job? Undeniably important to increase trust in each other.
Apply the learnings in a fun activity
The hungry stomachs were satisfied. A nice drink there. And then the learningsto apply in an active fun activity. Here a highland games fit perfectly into the picture. Which team will be King of Scotland? By mossels from brossels arranged together with our close circle of partners.
