The Shape of Us

Our away days always reveal something new about our teammates, and our latest get-together didn’t disappoint. These moments remind us that we're more than job titles; we’re a company shaped by differences in how we think, work, and experience life.

It all started with a side salad

After a morning of sales and marketing insights, the team broke for lunch. While soaking up the spring sunshine in the beautiful grounds of the Wood Norton hotel, the conversation moved on, as it does, to the texture of fruit and veg (banana and avocado, we're looking at you).

It turns out that it's not just the texture that sparks opinion, it's character traits, too. Arrogant mangoes. Defiant green beans. Stubborn cauliflowers. What began as a casual chat evolved into a passionate debate about the personalities of produce.

Eventually, after much discussion, we crowned the winner in the 'most tolerated' category*

Loud lights and comfort cups

Over dinner, we uncovered other quirks.

One of the team can't taste while wearing glasses and finds bright lights too loud. The same person shuts down if more than two people are talking at once and can find certain smells unbearable. Another has to arrive everywhere hours earlier than required and take their own cutlery wherever they eat. One can only attend in-person meetings with the security of a cup to hold, and another needs to power walk to unravel their brain when it gets too full. And let's not forget the Everything Bag that one person carries at all times with contents to cover all eventualities, from first aid to fidget toys.

As well as making us laugh (all joy and no judgement), it highlighted the different ways we experience the world. Were some of these habits weird? Yeah, a bit. Were they also wonderful? Absolutely.

Techno and to-do lists

The staff with these traits don’t just approach life differently, they approach work differently too. They’re creative, spotting details others often miss, asking the questions no one else thinks to ask, and connecting with the students we support in ways only lived experience can teach.

Taking the time to ask how each person prefers to process information and tackle tasks makes a real difference and helps us understand each other better. One of our more visual team members, for example, begins each day by arranging tasks on magnetic tiles across a whiteboard, while their colleague prefers a hyper-detailed digital to-do list, breaking every step into tiny, manageable parts. One of the marketing team can only operate in complete silence, while their coworker is most productive while listening to techno.

More than one route to the finish line

These unique approaches were highlighted at another of our away days, when we were challenged to pair up and build a vehicle from scrap materials to safely transport an egg. Despite all having the same brief, the results were drastically different. From the exquisitely engineered to the wonderfully weird, they all made it to the finish line (well, all except Laura’s), but each in their own way.

At an earlier workshop, we revisited the values our company stands for.

One of these is celebrating uniqueness – something I see every day in our team. It's not just a meaningless mission statement; it's central to our culture, conversations, collaborations, and, occasionally, our debates about fruit.

In a world that often expects people to fit a mould, it's great to be part of something that embraces the shape you already are.

*(Pineapple, if you're wondering, with strawberries a close second. On the veg front, savoy cabbage was a clear leader with cauliflower languishing firmly at the bottom.)