Uniq Prepared Foods
Following our response to a competitive tender, Maximillion was selected by a Cambridgeshire-based PR agency on behalf of its client, a chilled prepared foods business, to assist 70 senior and middle managers in articulating their new vision and values through a fun, participative and engaging team-based organisation development intervention. Based on the brief provided, Maximillion successfully proposed a bespoke version of our Create & Paint format, in which teams undertook a collaborative process that resulted in the production of giant canvas artworks which reflected the new vision and values for the business.
Event detail
- Duration: Half day – afternoon
- Location & Venue: Whittlebury Hall, Northamptonshire
- Group size: 70 pax
- Format: Design and delivery of bespoke collaborative team event, format to reflect vision & values. Participative and fun with a business focus.
Event aim & objectives
To engage the whole group in a fun, interactive experiential activity that would:
- Create workplace associations and bringing to life the new vision and its five supporting values in an active and participative way
- Stimulate cross-functional teamwork and communication through positive interaction.
- Build and strengthen relationships in a fun, non-threatening environment and provide a fun, memorable and rewarding experience to all participants
- Provide the group with practical takeaways that reflect current organisational messages
Event outline
Led by Maximillion Lead Facilitator Mark Johnstone and a team of event staff, the conference group of 70 was divided into pre-determined teams who in turn worked in 2 parallel groups of five teams. Within each group the five teams, working remotely but in collaboration with the other teams in the group, had to produce two large artworks made up of 10 composite canvases, with each team having responsibility for specific area of the finished masterpiece.
Each masterpiece represented and illustrated the two elements of the vision respectively. The five supporting values that underpin the vision had also to be represented in some shape or form in each composite canvas.
On the way, teams had to undertake complementary art themed challenges, which enabled them to procure a wide variety of arts and crafts materials to assist in the creation of their artworks.
At the end of the project the team canvases came together during a ‘Grand Opening’ ceremony, where the two groups exhibited both ‘chef d’oeuvres’ and recounted the story of the artworks to the other group.
Every member of each team was an artist and as such had to be involved in applying their artistic endeavours to the giant canvases. As well as their creative input, each person in the team had to fulfil at least one other role to manage all the different aspects of the project, e.g. draftsmen, team co-ordinator, treasurer, story-teller, supply manager. These different roles were allocated at the start of the project.
The beauty of Create and Paint is that there’s something in it for everyone, and participants will gravitate towards the roles and the aspects of the project that play to their strengths, with some people possibly being allocated more than one role
Benefits of Create & Paint
Create & Paint is designed to bring a large group of people together to explore and share understanding of a common organisational vision and supporting values, and the role the participants play in achieving them. It also presents opportunities to communicate organisational objectives, but also aspects of organisational culture and attitudes.
The work which is undertaken during the event strengthens individual connections with the wider organisation and gives a sense of shared identity. The tangible output – which can be retained in its original form or photographed and captured electronically or in print – acts as a reminder of the positive interpretations and intentions of the participants involved in its creation and the aspirations of the whole organisation.