Paris…
Last month, the 50 Degrees team uprooted themselves from behind their desks and took off to Paris for a night.
This made me think! In retrospect, before March 2020 travelling was something that society had collectively come to take for granted – myself included. Looking forward, I think we will now appreciate travelling opportunities a bit more... which brings me to my first experience of travelling with my work colleagues.
I learnt that there are many benefits to travelling as a team – team bonding being an important one. We all took part in a walking ‘food and wine’ tour, and the next day my war studies fanatic colleague took us to/dragged us around Paris’s military museum. Not only do I think the trip brought us all a lot closer, but after an exceptionally busy year (many bids submitted, many bids won) it also offered the team a well-deserved chance for a break and reset.
Adding to this, as has been pointed out in a previous blog post, the company’s values play an important role in the way 50 Degrees works. One of these is success, and such trips ensure that this is properly acknowledged and celebrated. Adding to this, the trip was fun (the night may or may not have ended in slightly dodgy underground Parisian club – photos available to the highest bidder).
But, in a post-pandemic world, I couldn’t help but think that the trip had a different ‘feel’ to it.
Undoubtedly, Covid has changed the way we all work. Some of us were meeting each other in person for the first time, despite being so well acquainted in the virtual world.
Adding to this, as many of us had not travelled much for over two years, being abroad and everything that goes with it (the new culture, surroundings, food, people, and so on) felt especially refreshing. Travelling helps you to see things from different perspectives, and after being tied to London for so long this really stood out to me.
Even the shortest trips abroad can have such profound impacts, on both individuals and teams more collectively. So this takes me back to my opening thoughts, about how the pandemic brought all travel to a complete standstill and the culture shock that this was. The fact that we all now appreciate trips away slightly more might be an (albeit very thin) silver lining, to what was otherwise a very dark grey cloud.
Charlotte dos Remedios