A whole host of buddy's and a smattering of mystery

A whole host of buddy’s and a smattering of mystery

Posted April 24, 2020

There’s been a lot of memes going around about sparing a thought for the extroverts at this trying time. For people who thrive off a social energy and work best when they’re amidst the hustle of a loud office, solitude can be really mentally trying.

As a rarely dull office with a lot of big personalities, we can certainly relate to that. Being a chatter-er is not only intrinsic to our industry but to our self-belief and ability to achieve. That’s why as an organisation we knew it was something we really had to focus on prioritising whilst people are remote in both their professional and personal lives.

On leaving our vibrant, colourful office, our fantastic ops team setup and quickly got us all to speed with Zoom, a piece of tech that’s taken the world by storm. Zoom has thrived on the notion that whilst phone calls and emails work as a base level of communication, to keep the strong bonds and team morale going consistently having face time is imperative.

And so, each week, every person in our office has been assigned a different buddy whose role is not to talk shop but to check in on their colleague and ask, are you ok? As you may have seen on social media already, we’re a team who’s passionate about maintaining mental health. In fact, we’ve chosen Mind Australia as our dedicated charity for the year and just last week hosted Dr Amy Silver, a psychologist who ran a session for our internal team on managing our wellbeing and mental safety through unprecedented and uncertain times.

Buddies serve to check in, to give a laugh and to break up the stagnation which can form when all days merge into one in a way we’ve never experienced before. They maintain our social bonds and most importantly keep the TwoScots culture and mission alive. They remind each of us of why we chose to be part of a business with our morals and operational values.

Our mystery finishes push this to the next level again…

After a long day of staring at the same spot and being rooted within the same set of walls laughter really is the best medicine. Each day a buddy pair is assigned to organise a Mystery Finish.

We’ve stormed the stores with Supermarket Sweep, hunted out an office murderer with Cluedo, have hunted our colleagues Where’s Wally style not to mention a stellar pub quiz, a virtual wine tour and an iconic game of Smash It or Stash It which resulted in our poor colleague Carly standing in her shower as she smashed eggs into her hair for our amusement.

It’s amazing to say that these initiatives have helped us defy the odds and become closer as a team throughout physical separation. They’ve encouraged one on one conversations with colleagues you may not usually chat to on the phone, they’ve shown our dedication to make each other laugh with ever more elaborate games and costumes and they’ve shown our ability to care. Every correspondence we have is fronted with, how are you going today? People are striving to help each other and work together in a way we’ve never had to before and it will bring us out stronger.

If you’re feeling low or like you need to chat with someone new, please do get in touch with us today. In fact, each time we Zoom with someone new we’re donating the cost of the cup of coffee we’d usually buy you to Mind Australia so you won’t just help yourself but someone else in need of that extra support.