The trip that made our teamwork work

Teamwork is all about trust.

Sharing awkward stories and strong opinions makes us vulnerable. When we can trust our colleagues with who we are outside the office, the result is more productive and efficient teams.

At New Atoms, our world spins by the virtue of great teamwork. We work together on all jobs at hand, contributing from our own experience. We never go at it alone. Therefore, trust and mutual understanding are absolutely critical. Shared coffee breaks and regular after work beers are a start, but we believe they don’t suffice.

Building trust and understanding sometimes requires a change of scenery, blended with good food and drinks and sprinkled with spirited discussions and silly jokes. As we like to call it: an off-site. Earlier this year, we traveled to London for our very first edition. Here’s the story.

Bonding over food, drinks and big topics

Our days in London provided the perfect opportunity to talk about the business of journalism. Boris, our fearless leader, gave daily talks about the the future of news, technology and the future in general.

In the evenings, the conversations would transgress into talks about riding bikes into canals, our love for Adventure Time and past romantic relationships. Weightier topics, such as gender politics, the moral issues of advertising and our urge to break through conventions were also discussed. Most of these subjects unfolded in restaurants over large portions of food or in pubs with delicious beverages in hand. These settings seem to work magic for communication.

It was the opportunity to discuss such a variety of topics freely, from business to silly to serious, that naturally led us to feel a personal investment in one another. Especially having a brand new team member on board, these evenings facilitated becoming acquainted pressure cooker-style.

Shutting up to reach mutual understanding

The pressure-cooker, while a facilitator, can sometimes overheat.

There were moments when our weighty pub conversations gave rise to heated discussions. As the temperature rose, our individual assumptions began to emerge. Most of us were saying the same things with different words, but the fear of being misunderstood stopped us from listening. It made it impossible to learn from one another.

It took us quite a few attempts to realise we were all on the same page. Thankfully, an off-site creates the time and space for these attempts. We learned through trial and error that if someone has a strong opinion, we should not try to fight it with our own, but rather understand what they are trying to convey.

It was only by talking through these assumptions and learning how to listen that they began to melt away and be replaced by empathy. We were able to understand each other and see from one another’s perspectives. We learned how to communicate effectively on a personal level, looking past our own baggage and assumptions. We learned to trust.

The tangible effects of our off-site

Our time in London gave us a different mindset and increased personal investment in our colleagues. We bonded through sharing personal stories and making new shared memories.

This enabled us to see our colleagues for the people they are instead of who we had made them out to be. Well-founded knowledge of one other made for more empathy and understanding, making our daily collaboration a much more comfortable endeavour. Pardon us for getting a little sappy here, but we are certain these developments lead to more productive teamwork.

When everyone learns to subdue their assumptions and starts to listen, collaboration will flourish.

This understanding accompanied us back to Amsterdam and permeated our work-related conversations. Months later, we feel the positive effects of having met outside the usual environment. We can trust one another. We can be both vulnerable and honest in our discussions without fearing judgement.

A more analytical vision helps to clarify our view of the world, thus positioning us to better fulfil our mission. We now realise even more that you must first understand what others are saying before you can respond fairly and intelligently. Set aside your ego, take a step back, and go from there.

Our second off-site is planned in November, and we can’t wait to find out what we will learn next.