Participation and innovation are just two of our core values at Work Psychology Group (WPG). We have seven in total and they have been in place since the company was founded in 2003.
These values are the cornerstone for how we do business. They guide us in everything we do – from key business decisions to day-to-day activities. And whilst we adapt to this ‘new normal’ they have been invaluable in helping us to keep the cogs turning and our team connected.
Each week, we celebrate team members who excel at demonstrating our values. And as we head into week seven of lockdown, the whole team has been impressed by consultant psychologist, Emma-Louise Rowe’s, commitment to keeping us all connected through innovative and participatory means.
Stretch and snack sessions
Every Wednesday lunchtime the WPG team from the London and Derby offices gets together for some stretches and a chit-chat over lunch. But since we have been working from home, and office attire is often more comfortable, Emma-Louise came up with the idea to evolve the stretch session to…’Zoom-ba’! Not only does it gets the endorphins pumping but it’s a great way to make sure we are all moving throughout the day.
The virtual office
There are many benefits to working from home (see above re comfortable clothing!) but many of us are also missing face to face contact with work colleagues and those daily interactions that we previously took for granted. So, as a creative challenge, Emma-Louise put together a short series of those office interactions and encouraged colleagues to act them out. Whether it was making a cup of tea, asking our work colleague ‘what’s for lunch?’ or ‘passing’ a pen to someone at the next desk, we had great fun recreating ‘office life’ from our homes. You can see the results of our efforts here.
A virtual scavenger hunt
Last year, team WPG held an Easter egg hunt in the office. But this year, we’ve taken things to a new level with Emma-Louise coming up with a participative way to get everyone involved together, whilst at home. She did this by hosting a virtual scavenger hunt, which saw colleagues having to dash around their houses to collect typical (and not so typical) household items including something starting with W, a psychology related book, favourite snack, funny mug, umbrella, crazy socks, yellow item of clothing, house plant and playing cards. Congratulations to winner Sophie Laidler.
Vicky Roe, Senior Consultant at WPG said: “The whole team has been benefitting from Emma-Louise’s enthusiasm, creativity and energy in keeping us connected. It can be challenging to spend so much time working independently but Emma-Louise has thought of lots of different ways to keep us working collaboratively and productively, and to make sure we have some fun as well! Even some of our families have joined in with weekly Zoom-ba! We all look forward to hearing her new suggestions each week.”
Tell us about your successes around maintaining team cohesion at this challenging time – we’d love to hear!
