After extensive planning and organisation, team Coviu was lucky enough to attend our annual Company Offsite last week at Peppers Craigieburn in Bowral, NSW.
This was the biggest Company Offsite in Coviu history, with 30 team members travelling from across the country (as laws permitted) to meet for a jam-packed 3 days of bonding, planning and setting goals for 2021. Even Simon from our development team virtually attended from Melbourne!
To ensure everyone’s safety, all attendees took COVID-19 tests prior to arriving in Bowral. Once we were all cleared, the fun (and hard work) began!
Day 1:
SWOT analysis
Our session set up for brainstorming activities
Our first activity was engaging in a company-wide analysis of Coviu's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This was a chance to see where we currently sit in the healthcare sector and highlight any areas of the business that need more attention. The "opportunities" section was by far the largest, as our passionate team came up with countless ways we can improve and grow Coviu to better support healthcare practitioners and their patients.
Cultural show and tell
One of the strengths of Coviu is our company culture, which seeks to honour and celebrate the rich diversity of our team; whether it be diversity of religion, gender, age, sexuality, ethnicity, or nationality.
During lunch on the first day, we had a cultural show and tell, where team members were asked to bring something to share with the team, mostly as a fun way to get to know each other. Some of the highlights included Sri Lankan Love Cake and a traditional Indian Kurta!
Values - life and work
The card sorting activity
After lunch, which was a great segue into our next session, we focused on our personal and company values through the Personal Values Card Sorting Task. It was interesting to see the differences and similarities between what we value on an individual level and what we see as Coviu's company values. Purpose, growth, and passion were some of the most common cards that kept appearing.
Event storming: Chaotic exploration
Chaos - but in the best way!
Our next activity was the first session of an Event Storming workshop that became a 3 day event. This session was aimed at breaking down silos and establishing a shared narrative across the organisation. Each team started by brainstorming their daily activities and processes on the wall with post-it notes.
Then, other teams analysed what gaps were missing from each other's sections, whether it be a specific task, a need for better communication between teams or a new position that may need to be filled. Identifying these 'hot spots' gave our marketing, development, product, sales, customer success, administrative and senior leadership teams insight into how we can better streamline our processes and fix any pressing issues in the organisation.
Oliberth and Kheminda battling it out in a chess game before dinner
Formal dinner at Centennial Vineyards
To celebrate our team meeting for the first time after a challenging (but rewarding) year, we had a beautiful celebratory dinner at Centennial Vineyards.
Dinner selfie with our awesome CEO!
Our gorgeous view of the vineyard
Day 2:
Stop wasting your life
The first session of Day 2 was focused on remote working and how to ensure we have fewer, more productive meetings. Part of the discussion was based on how to maintain social connection when working from home, whilst still having efficient meetings that stay on topic. It's a hard balance!
Team problem solving games
One of the highlights of the Company Offsite was the team activities we played on Day 2. Initially disguised as a session by our CEO, Dr Silvia Pfeiffer, on how she prepares for board presentations, it was quickly disrupted by her 'kidnapping'. We were divided into teams and told we had to play a range of problem solving games in order to win money and pay her ransom.
One of the logic games. It got VERY competitive!
The games tested our communication, hand-eye coordination, logic, critical thinking and leadership skills. We finished off the day with a competition for who could build the tallest tin-foil tower, which was harder than it sounds!
Wine tasting
After the excitement of the team games, we settled down with a sophisticated wine tasting, run by Raphaella, our Chief of Staff.
She ran us through the 5 S's of wine tasting: see, swirl, sniff, sip and savour.
The 'sniff' test
Dinner and trivia night
We finished off Day 2 with an awesome game of trivia over dinner!
.jpg?width=587&name=Image%20from%20iOS%20(1).jpg)
The winning team!
Day 3:
Features Workshop
One of the last sessions of the Company Offsite was held by Andy, our National Sales Manager who gave a great presentation on how to communicate more effectively, particularly through active listening and empathy.
Based on what we had learned, we were then required to break up into pairs to present a 60-90 second pitch on our favourite Coviu feature. We weren't allowed to choose a feature that had already been said, but luckily there are so many great features on Coviu so there were lots to choose from!
Offsite Retrospective
Nathan, Coviu's CTO and Co-founder, finished off the day with a quick wrap up of what we had learned and experienced over the past few days.
We also found time to take lots of photos in our new Coviu shirts!
Proud Team Coviu!
By Friday afternoon, the whole team was pretty exhausted after all the sessions and activities. As we packed up and said our goodbyes, it started to hit home that we don't know when we will be all together again next, given the ever-changing circumstances.
However, we were so grateful for the opportunity to get know each other, learn how to improve efficiency and communication between teams, and spend time to align the company's vision and purpose.
It is safe to say that Coviu's 2020 Company Offsite was a super inspiring, enriching and eye-opening event and we cannot wait to put everything we have learnt into action!
To learn more about Coviu and our mission to unleash the potential of digital healthcare, click here.
