This week I’ve had the privilege of attending a client’s offsite event for three days of team games, knowledge sharing and building connections. This is the third year we’ve run something similar, each time building on the last, listening to the feedback from the team. A long time away from ‘business as usual’ but an opportunity to reflect on the value we create through being together.
Team events are fertile ground for creating company legends and stories. A group challenge, a surprising win in a quiz, or even the chaos of building a spaghetti tower often becomes a story people retell. The in-jokes that spring up (“remember Ben and the marshmallow tower?”) quickly become memes that resurface in Slack or on meet-up days: in-person experiences you’ve shared with someone who usually sits on the other side of the world and you only ever see on a screen.
The point isn’t just to laugh, although there was plenty of that. It’s that these shared moments give people anchors, common experiences they can draw on when work gets busy or tough. Stories remind teams of what’s possible, and memes give us a light-hearted way to stay connected. The People & Culture Manager wanted to ‘create memories’ and build stories that bind us together.
Company stories carry meaning and build a sense of belonging, especially in start-up environments. They show what the company values, what behaviours are celebrated, and how challenges are overcome. When new employees hear them, and see how colleagues interact, they get an immediate sense of “how we do things here.”
If you want a strong, human culture, you don’t just need strategy and values on paper. You need living stories, inside jokes, and space to create them. That’s why a well-designed team day is never just a nice-to-have — it’s part of the cultural fabric.
The Quirky Side of Work 