For our team development sessions, we were lucky enough to go to one of the best hotels in the UK, Cliveden. A wonderful experience, with the added spice of some celebrities staying. (we did eventually get a photo)

The service throughout was outstanding; except for some particular fussy behaviour over dinner. Eating as a group, we ordered red and white wine, different preferences. For some reason, the staff assumed that we would all have white with the starter and red with the main – not so, so we sorted that out and somewhow I’d ended up with none. Asking to get some wine, apparently the person currently serving could not do it – she asked someone who asked someone who wnet and got someone, who then proceeded to wander over, stare at the table and go off again. The second time of asking, the same chain of whispers was carried out – but at least the server found out who was missing the wine this time. The bottles were 2 feet behind me – but I had visions of being tackled to the ground if I had dared to grab the bottle. Apart from – superb place, well worth the visit.

One of the outcomes of the 2 days was a shared vision/mission statement. Usually (I’ve done this a few times) they end up being in the format of: ” We will……..by…..through…….”; filling in the gaps with whatever the team is working on. This time, something a little different came out, something that I can apply to other areas as well -“Evangelise the why, revolutionise the how, innovate the what”. Of course, I want to say ‘innovise’ – it just sounds so much better, so what if it is not a word!