Hello!

Academic environments can be quite demanding, especially as teams grow and become more interdisciplinary. Ongoing projects require an efficient cooperation between team members, built on robust and clear communication channels to follow progress and solve problems. In this regard, team retreats can be a valuable tool to zoom out from work and strengthen interpersonal relationships between individuals. Recently, I had the chance to participate in a lab retreat with my colleagues and I would like to share some noteworthy takeaways from this experience.

1. Favouring practical, unusual, local activities

2. Stimulate quality and creativity with friendly competitions

3. Celebrate time for social interactions

Favouring practical, unusual, local activities

Our lab retreat took place at the end of the fall semester, which is often a stressful period to complete any outstanding goals before the holidays. For that reason, we opted for an afternoon event which we believe represented a balanced time commitment from everyone while still providing sufficient room to plan an extended activity together. Besides, our organiser aimed to integrate an educational and a fun component that promoted healthy social interactions. Therefore, although it was initially planned to visit a nuclear power plant, we started with a tour of a biogas production facility nearby after which we gathered for a cooking competition with bone-related themes.

The first visit was fascinating as we got to learn about the processing steps needed to convert biological trash into biogas, fertilisers, and energy. Seemingly unrelated to our area of work, it was an engaging experience that mixed detailed explanations of the biological processes involved, such as fermentation, but also highlighted its impact and value for the local community. Indeed, most of the fertiliser produced as a side product is offered to owners of small farms in land fields scattered around the city. Ultimately, this tour stimulated fresh discussions among the group, interrupting typical science- and project-related conversations that dominate our daily agendas.

Regarding the cooking competition, the goal was three-fold: promote interactions between lab members who do not work closely on a regular basis, unite people to complete a fun challenge and have a good time preparing a full course meal that would culminate with a lively dinner with everyone. To this end, we rented an event location that features a fully equipped professional kitchen and plenty of room for everyone to prepare their dishes. This was the longest event of the afternoon and undoubtedly the highlight of our retreat.

Stimulate quality and creativity with friendly competitions

The details of our cooking challenge were announced at the start of the retreat after teams were randomly generated among all participants. To make the activity more engaging, each team drafted what type of dish they would cook (appetizer, main course, or dessert) and a bone-related topic that should drive its plating and presentation. After the dinner, everyone would vote for the dish with the “best topic incorporation”, “best flavour” and “best plating presentation”.

First, teams were given 15 minutes to pick their recipe so that a collective effort could be deployed for grocery shopping. Then, we started creating our masterpieces and, despite being formulated as a competition, I found this activity to really stimulate funny interactions among everyone. On the one hand, we all had a drive to “win” which pushed us to produce a dish we would be proud and enjoyed. On the other hand, we kept teasing each other with ideas of how to best incorporate each team’s topic. Furthermore, I especially appreciated the friendly cooperative mood among everyone, truly setting aside ongoing fervent scientific debates.

As the preparation time progressed, it started to resemble a Masterchef episode, with our main organiser shouting reminders of how much time was left. At last, we all gathered for drinks and appetizer snacks, and the dish presentations began.

With all teams having prepared impressive dishes, each was granted two minutes to showcase their creation and explain how it embodied the topic they drafted. This was certainly one of the funniest moments as some of the teams carved a whole femur out of broccoli or mimicked realistic 3D printed scaffolds with spaghetti. In that moment, I felt that simply presenting our dishes collectively surpassed the competitive nature of the activity and was truly a moment to enjoy and appreciate our team efforts.

After completing all presentations, the dinner began. At first, it certainly felt like other unofficial events that we often organise among ourselves; but, with the presence of our professor, discussions can easily become very engaging and are complemented by episodes from his life which make such conversations much more personal and unique. Indeed, it is not often that we get the chance to connect with him about non-science related topics, making these moments worthwhile. Towards the end of the dinner, our organiser did prepare voting bulletins to award the best dish of each category. Justifiably, each team was rewarded in a different way, earning a well-deserved box of Swiss chocolate.

Lastly, our team building activity ended with another collective effort to clean the kitchen and dinner area together. As everyone was in an ecstatic mood, these typically boring tasks were nearly effortless. At the same time, we were already reflecting on what went well and what could be improved for the next retreat and highly motivated to return to the lab the following day to continue our work.

Conclusion

Effective teams are built on great communication and cooperation, which can be difficult to implement at times in an ever-changing environment. Therefore, intentionally taking the time to reset and bring everyone together can be extremely valuable for an entire group. Our retreat showed us that despite very stressful moments in the lab, building strong interpersonal can go a long way to overcome such challenges collectively and successfully.

Please feel free to share your thoughts on the benefits of team building activities!

Have a great day!