Teaming Up

October 5, 2013

Go Team Moran! (together with the rest of our business unit).

A few years ago when I was visiting my sister in Perth, Australia we participated in the annual City to Surf race. It is a massive public race, but it also has very strong corporate representation. At the finish line there were huge tents for each participating company, and sure enough, my company was there (we were really tempted to make friends with them in hopes of being offered a hot dog...). While I know the firm in Canada does participate in community events, it is on a much smaller scale (and I'm pretty sure I've never seen a team tent anywhere) and does not seem to have the same buy-in as it does in other countries. This likely has a lot to do with how small the Canadian offices are compared to other offices around the globe.   

The local firm in Johannesburg has over 3000 employees, and there is significant value placed on taking full advantage of opportunities to unite employees as a team and get out in the community together. And so, our office entered over 50 teams in the National Business Challenge Relay. It was a marathon-distance relay race completed by a team of six runners (or walkers) in the capital city of Pretoria. It provided an opportunity to work together as a team in something fun and inspiring, that had nothing to do with work. And yet, ultimately, it has everything to do with work (which I realize is exactly the point).