I am typing these lines, we are leaving Ohrid (Macedonia) and heading back to Skopje after having spent an entire week together with my colleagues at Sample Solutions. The fact that all my colleagues have fallen asleep shows that the last week was more than just intense – it was exhausting, demanding but amazing at the same time. All this in a perfect setting!
Ohrid itself is a serene place – we stayed directly at the lake with mid 20° C and having a direct view of the snow-covered mountain ranges a stone’s throw away from the lake. These settings simply provide a completely different working environment which not just stimulates co-working but also creativity.
Looking back to what we achieved in this week, it was an event which added so much value to the team at Sample Solutions. We grew from 3 to 15 employees in a bit more than a years time. Amongst the 15 people, we speak a total of 14 languages fluently with the average age being 24.1 years. All this made such an event so important.
A large share of the work sessions was covering topics involving multiple departments at the same time. During a normal working day most of the interaction happens within the individual departments, therefore work sessions with multiple departments were scheduled which is an enabler for improved communication and increased efficiency for future processes where multiple departments are involved.
Furthermore, we coded – a lot! With the feedback provided on the various online systems for internal use but also client usage, our web developers were able to immediately start implementing part of the ideas directly and furthermore have plans for the upcoming quarters. We even set up a demo for our SMS platform for the upcoming Insight Show in London.
During the last week, it was not too much about doing trust or teambuilding activities (falling into each other’s arms) but rather working together, having dinner together or going sightseeing together. It is a great experience that within one week the same set of terminology is used within the company – a terminology that for outsiders would be very difficult to understand.
I am very proud of the entire team, not just for what we achieved in terms of growth or business metrics, but rather for working in an environment where work does not feel like work.
I look forward to tackling the upcoming challenges in the next months and years and I am sure this will not be the last team week of Sample Solutions.
This article was posted in the category About Sample Solutions and contains the following keywords: Teambuilding, Sample Solutions
Carsten Broich
Carsten is the founder of Sample Solutions and Lifepanel with over a decade of sampling and social research experience. A trained aerospace engineer who discovered his love for random phone numbers.
