Last Friday, though sporadic April showers, I headed to the tranquil office of Business in the Community (BITC) overlooking regents canal – for afternoon tea.
The BITC have agreed to help us explore our employee engagement initiative and the kind of interventions that may be needed to encourage and actively get staff to share. So over a cup of tea and a slice of cake, we spent some time talking about stuff.
Within the BITC there’s a “Walk the Talk” team, who’s purpose is to inspire their colleagues to live more sustainably at work and at home. So prior to my visit, members of the team had already come together to create a BITC lending circle for the London office and added a whole host of items – including books, a picnic blanket, sports equipment, a skype headset, a tent, tuxedo and even a unicycle – to help inspire their colleagues to join in. And to boost the notion of sharing, a whole afternoon tea was also borrowed too.
The team had brought borrowed table cloths, napkins, tea-pot and cups and also a number of items they had added to ecomodo. A couple of team members had also made homemade brownies and fruitcake – needless to say – the cake didn’t last very long.
To help explore and getting everyone talking stuff .. we played a game! Green stickies for an item you would lend and orange for something you would like to borrow.
With lots of enthusiasm, around 35 staff members joined in the event and at the end of tea, we left the stickies as a reminder which have now been posted in a common area in the office. So far the BITC lending circle is up to 11 members, 18 items to borrow and 1 wanted ad. We will keep updating progress. Next step: Posters.
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