December Collaboration Week

December’s Collaboration Week always feels extra special, with everyone embracing the festive spirit and eagerly anticipating the Christmas holidays. This December was particularly meaningful as it marked three years since we introduced our quarterly Collaboration Weeks. These events have become not only key milestones for our team but also something everyone looks forward to throughout the year.

We began the week with a company-wide update from our CEO, Darren. To make the session even sweeter, our friends at Cake Stories delivered some absolutely delicious cakes, which we thoroughly enjoyed during the update.

The week continued with a variety of workshops and sessions, including account updates from our Growth Team, product retrospectives, technical roadmaps, and an insightful discussion on how we manage and categorise our clients, with ideas on how to improve this process moving forward.

Since it’s December, we like to add a festive twist to our agenda. Last year, we played bingo, and this year, we hosted a Christmas Quiz led by Darren. The quiz tested everyone’s Christmas knowledge, which was impressive in some cases, and ended with a hilariously debated round of ‘Porn or Polish. While quizzing, we enjoyed a delicious buffet from Stairwayz Café, whose food never disappoints. 

We wrapped up the week with our annual festive party, kicking off with a fantastic three-course lunch at Babucho Newcastle. As always, their exceptional service and delicious food made the occasion even more special.

Following the meal, we headed to The Exchange for drinks and our Talent Recognition Awards. These awards celebrate individuals who have exemplified our four core values in 2024. Each winner was honored with a trophy and a cash prize—a well-deserved recognition for their outstanding contributions!

Quality First Award -  Miguel Cortez, Vehicle Artist

Miguel always thinks about the best way to deliver a piece of work both with an eye for improving the quality of the final output and the process by which we achieve that quality.

Innovation Award  - Andy Ace, Senior Technical Director

Andy is simply brilliant, a creative problem solver and absolutely pivotal to the teams he works in. Andy is a joy to work with.

Focus Award - Caleb Leeke, Solution Architect & Charlotte Pascoe, People Manager

Caleb leverages his experience and expertise at every turn to drive forward innovation and robustness in the build system.

Charlotte has done an excellent job in 'developing you' working her magic to encourage us to have the confidence to recognise our strengths and  to be the best that we can be.

Collaboration Award - Annie Bedwell, Project Manager

Annie is always pushing for the best quality for our clients and internally. She is a skilful people organiser and knows how to get the best out of everyone she interacts with. Her emotional intelligence is second to none and this feeds into every aspect of her work. She leads by example and always delivers exceptional work.

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