PDR’s Away Day
PDR’s team Away Day took place at Atlantic College, the prestigious international boarding school located amongst the Glamorganshire countryside. The college is set within St Donat’s Castle, a 12th century castle with extensive grounds that include preserved woodland, farmland and coastline. The tranquil surroundings provided the ideal setting for staff to take a break from the office and their day to day roles to spend time together in a different environment.
The day began with a presentation from Director Jarred Evans highlighting successes of the past year and laying out aims for the year ahead. This was followed by more area-specific talks from Stuart Clarke (Product Design Manager), and Anna Whicher (Professor of Design and Policy). The morning’s activities concluded with some broader group discussions, inviting a range of opinions which highlighted the importance of occasions like these for colleagues to come together and hear from those they may have less regular contact with.
The afternoon began with some classic team building in the form of orienteering, which enabled us to stretch the legs and properly explore the impressive school grounds. With a heatwave at its peak, severe company-wide sunburn was prevented by the small minority who had thought to bring sun cream. Afterwards we received a guided tour of the castle buildings which covered the intriguing history of Atlantic College and the castle itself.
The last activity of the day was an Insights Discovery session led by the Organisational Development team at Cardiff Metropolitan University. Everyone received the results of personality surveys they had completed in advance, which provided in-depth personal reports and indicators of how individual characteristics can affect interactions in the workplace. Having time to compare reports ensured that we boarded the bus back to Cardiff understanding each other a little better, having had some fun and feeling more aligned on aims for the future.
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