You have no idea where Visselhövede is! Neither did we have before. Visselhövede is a small community in Lower Saxony and is about an hour away from the Hanseatic city of Bremen. For many of us, country air was therefore the order of the day for a few days. In an old estate, they worked for 5 days, held workshops and brought the team together.
Hamburg is calling!
But before heading to the countryside, Hamburg was the first port of call. In order to unite all our team members from half of Europe, the Hanseatic City was defined as a meeting place for the entire team. Those who had to fly ended up at the airport, everyone else from Germany could travel by train. After all, as a company, we also need to pay attention to our ecological footprint.
After our team following our outings in Schliersee and Madrid has grown to 30 members, such an outing is already an organizational masterpiece. Because a shuttle bus was organized from Hamburg to take us to Visselhövede. Timing everything on time, planning for delays and, above all, not forgetting anyone in the Hanseatic city was already the first challenge.
To be honest, many of the Seatti family had the feeling that we were just leaving for a school trip. And after just under 2 hours, it was “Welcome to Visselhövede!”. After moving into the rooms and eating properly, day 1 was almost over.
Workshops, workshops and more workshops
The remaining days were dedicated to further developing Seatti. As a result, numerous workshops were organized by various team members to prepare our product and team for the next few weeks.
A special highlight: For one day, the focus was on the team and team dynamics. A workshop was organized for this purpose, which was entirely about one's own personality. With the help of a personality test, everyone was able to learn more about their character traits and present them to the team. This allows others in the team to understand how each other works and how best to work together.
This is particularly important for us as a remote-first company, as the majority only see themselves for these outings. This not only enabled us to learn a lot about our colleagues, but also to understand team dynamics and the individual requirements of a successful working environment.
Learnings from our workshop sessions
After numerous wok shops, it is always very clear what works and what doesn't. After all, an outing is a kind of exceptional situation for a team — especially if they work remotely first, like us. We have summarized some learnings here:
- Schedule time: A challenge that we face in each of our Meetings It is the time to face each other. When you see each other across teams every 3 months, you want to use this time and thousands of questions arise. Plan enough time for an outing or offsite!
- Moderation: Despite all questions, this must brainstorming Go ahead too! Time is limited and it is therefore an important role of speakers to ensure that the schedule is met. As difficult as it is sometimes to cancel, as a presenter, always have a look at the clock.
- Time for breaks: Speaking of time, breaks are also incredibly important. Set aside half an hour for coffee and cake. This gives future events more breathing space and gives creativity a new boost.
- Mix the teams: Group work is extremely useful when it comes to cooperation and new ideas can be developed. It is best to mix team members together who otherwise have rather few points of contact with each other. This is how you create a creative work environment!
Pub Quiz Seatti Team Edition
Another Seatti tradition that, of course, should not be missing: A Pub quiz! But this time in groups. All our different teams from all departments were mixed up wildly. However, our VP Sales Lars was used as a telephone joker for this round and was withdrawn from circulation. And Lars still had his hands full! The winner of this Visselhövede edition was Team DeskCheer-ing with a reference to the good old singer Cheer and Desk Sharing. We are probably never short of creativity!
Let's go to Bremen
And what should not be missing from a Seatti outing? That's right, a trip to the surrounding area. And this time it was off to the Hanseatic City of Bremen. Since some of our team members come from nearby or studied there, we had several guides on hand. After a hearty lunch was served in the basement of the town hall, the small alleys in the Schnoor quarter and the famous “quarter” were briefly explored. On the way back, we went back to the train station on the Weser.
Because the last evening was just around the corner and that means: DIY cooking! After we were provided with food from morning to evening throughout the week, it was time to cook for ourselves in the old Seatti style. This time we had tacos instead of pizza! As usual, this was followed by a small farewell party. This successful outing was celebrated late into the night before heading back to Hamburg (more or less fit) and home from there!
Goodbye Visselhövede
And as always, it was particularly nice to see everyone again, brainstorm, exchange ideas and get to know each other better. Even though we're all spread across Europe, it feels like we're always working together in this way during these very intense days. The most important learning is probably that an office doesn't have to be tied to one location. People make up the office and the working atmosphere. Our office moves with us and is almost always there.
And that's until the next outing! ✌️
