Some thoughts on (re)defining team-building

As winter approached, we started working on our holiday mindset. Rest and recharge are essential parts of a productive routine.

Just before stopping for a recharge, we want to offer you a couple of November key takeaways from Potcoava. Many corporate teams selected us for their last external meeting of the year, with or without Horse Touch. In our guests' words, what they were attracted to was how remote Potcoava is, the quality of food, and the outdoor time that helped them clear their minds and calm their emotions.

From the Horse Touch modules, we would like to share just one piece of feedback, which summarizes our philosophy about team building:

The time spent at Potcoava was genuinely precious, with very well-structured activities and a narrative thread. It highlighted and emphasized business needs that we were aware of but did not necessarily verbalize within the team. Lately, the concept of "team-building" has shifted focus towards fun rather towards connecting with colleagues. Still, the team-building program facilitated by you unites teams, strengthens them, and helps them set principles to reach top performance ! (signed by a Team leader, multinational company, FMCG)

Yes, we believe team-building as a concept needs redefining and redesigning. It needs to start from the business needs and offer new, improved energy and ways of working. It does not teach skills (like training), it nurtures energy and a connection between team members that supports the business operation further on. Fun is not excluded from the process, but it is not fun for the sake of fun; it is the type of fun that facilitate positive connection and positive expression of thoughts and emotions in a business environment.

So, don’t hesitate to contact us if you want input on how to structure your team-building events. Madalina Vintu Popa can be a precious discussion partner.

We walk the talk, so we also tested something new for ourselves: a couple of off-grid strategic meetings for our business. When we say off-grid, we say a remote cabin in the mountains 20 minutes away from Potcoava, without phone or internet service, where we held uninterrupted meetings on the projects we have under development. Spoiler alert: we plan to have our own farm, which is quite a challenge plus we are aiming at the implementation of a complete procedural system, a subject we will cover in another article. Back to the mountain lodge: we were six-seven people maximum, two-three days of meetings, no distractions, real socializing, and incredible productivity. Overall the great feeling of a time well spent.

For all the leadership teams out there complaining about the lack of quality of their meetings due to various distractions, we believe off-grid strategic meetings could hugely increase your productivity. If you are up for such an experience, let us know how it goes!

Business agendas completed, we are ready for December! For the Xmas magic! We’ve already tested the mulled wine by the fire and the horseback rides in the crisp air. We hope the snow will come early so we can enjoy a long, beautiful winter.

For all of you celebrating the given name of Andrei on the 30th of November, Happy birthday, and have a great party!

We also want to wish Happy birthday to Romania and Romanians! 1st of December is also Potcoava’s birthday, and we will celebrate it (as we do every year) with music and cheerfulness plus good food and fine wine. Happy birthday to us also!

This is all for now; we will come back with more news at the end of December! Enjoy the holiday month! May the magic manifest itself!

Happy days, folks!