Imagine the raffling sound as the numbered colorful balls fly out of the lottery machine. Everyone is holding their breath. What is the next number? Who is hiding behind it? Well, we have really gotten into "gambling" at Sixsentix Germany lately! Every month we play our own “Togetherness lottery”.
On a more serious note: in social psychology, the sense of belonging is considered one of the fundamental needs motivating human behavior. Belonging to a group gives us the feeling that we are part of something greater and more important than ourselves.
The background of the Togetherness concept
As you know, consulting is a special type of work that requires placing consultants into the client environment and their daily communication is focused mostly on client teams. From time to time, they might feel disconnected from their core team. Also, people in the Backoffice sometimes do not have enough opportunities to talk to the ones working on the client site. This has become additionally challenging ever since the option of remote work got established as the new normal - we are rarely at the office and do not see each other that often.
In such circumstances, tight relation to your core team might get loose, and we don´t want that ever to happen! Sixsentix Germany invests a lot in maintaining the team spirit: having virtual lunches or coffee breaks on a weekly basis, team events, and of course, Frankfurt Fridays every month.
However, we feel the need for something special that can make us feel even closer.
It's a nice reminder, especially when many of us are in the home office, to reach out to team members and just chat. Virtual meetings make it impossible to have some personal small talk, so I do feel that we grow a little bit more "together" with these exchanges.
It's a platform to talk to each other more often, to have fun, or to ask for a second opinion on some expert topic :)
About the main goals for the Sixsentix team
Hanna Kalomenkina, led by one of Sixsentix’s magic values - #Team_spirit, came up with the concept of togetherness: “Once I’ve got a virtual invitation for a coffee break from our new colleague just to get to know each other. After pleasant chit-chat for half an hour, the feeling of closeness appeared, and the person didn’t seem that alien anymore. Then I was thinking about the amazing impact of small meetings, which can change the perception and improve future co-working. It was especially relevant for us because we had to work mainly from the home office, from different locations, and even for different clients and entities, where sometimes one just doesn’t have an opportunity to interact with other colleagues. Then the idea of togetherness was born and later evolved”.
Since that moment, we have played the Togetherness lottery every month! Based on the random number choice, each team member gets two “togetherness” buddies. During the next month, in a group of three, buddies exchange ideas face to face or virtually, discussing any topic interesting to them, sharing cooking tips and tricks, from learning Excel macros together to sharing quick tips & tricks about cooking. Whatever they are up to! Participation is absolutely voluntary and very flexible. The main goal is to get to know each other better and have a platform to talk.
I was thinking about the amazing impact of small meetings, which can change perceptions and improve future co-work. It was especially relevant for us, Sixsentix consultants. Then the idea of togetherness was born and later evolved. It is a mixture of fun, closeness, trust, and building relationships, which contributes to Sixsentix’s spirit. Moreover, the lottery produces the gamification effect that makes the concept exciting.
As soon as Christin Buckel joined our Sixsentix team, she became Hanna’s ”partner in crime”: “Hanna organizes the buddy meetings outside the working hours, and once she asked me whether I would be interested in working with her on it. As I always care about the team and the people, and the idea of the togetherness concept looked really appealing to me, I immediately said, “yup”.
Now, I am happy to contribute to Sixsentix togetherness. I liked the idea of getting in touch with other colleagues, even if they were working on a different project or coming from the back office. Also, we got a chance to talk on a more personal level. For example, I got a buddy meeting with my colleagues, and we talked about the carnival in the region around Frankfurt. Turned out that the carnival in Hessen really differs from the one in the Black Forest, which is filled with witches and demons”.
When I joined Sixsentix, my first thought was that it would be hard to get in touch with my colleagues. Especially because we are working from home most of the time and are distributed all over Germany. But I got my first buddy meeting! It was exciting!
How and why we “play”
A Buddy meeting is always a great opportunity to meet and get to know each other much better and from a private perspective. We get closer to colleagues, exchange ideas and experiences, have fun, talk about work or have a nice break from business topics, and support our team spirit. In a small group, our players, as usual, discuss personal interests, families, traveling plans, hobbies, or just funny things. The togetherness lottery brings us closer on a personal level. And for each of us, it’s a great chance to get to know each other better!
Our “players” in the German team also shared their experiences of the Togetherness concept.
It is very nice to connect with colleagues outside of work! We usually discuss our daily lives and experiences. Every togetherness meeting is memorable for me!
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For me “Togetherness concept” means meeting colleagues you haven't seen in a while. Typically, we talk about private things, e.g. hobbies, family, and kids.
For me, it means getting to know my colleagues outside of work; it's very important since I work part-time. The togetherness concept gives me a chance to get to know people with whom I don't work closely. The most memorable meeting was where I found out that my colleague and I are both interested in Gothic style and culture. I would've never assumed that, but it was cool to find out about this similarity!
In my buddy meetings, we discuss our personal interests, responsibilities, and hobbies. Once, we played "Two truths and a lie" in our buddy meeting, and this was the most memorable meeting because I played this for the 1st time.
The Togetherness Jackpot
The benefits of the togetherness concept are obvious. And what about the jackpot? No doubts, all the players are the winners! Buddy meetings give us a feeling of closeness and happiness. After all, there is nothing better than human communication, a chance to get to know your colleagues better and just have a great time with your team mates.