Good Vibes at the Velodrome: Reconnecting at the Quality Away Day
By the Quality Improvement team
The quality department had their long-awaited away day on the 2nd September at the Velodrome in the Olympic park in Stratford. It was our first in-person away day since December 2019. Everyone agreed meeting in person, despite the social distancing and mask wearing, was an incredibly positive experience, generating much joy and togetherness. For some, this was also the first time meeting other team members in person…Welcome Miles, Ella, and Matt, new members of the quality assurance team!
With ‘re-connection’ as the theme, we started the day by devising questions that helped us to find out a little more about each other, a favourite was the provoking question, “when you were 10, where did you expect to be in your life’s journey?”. It was fascinating to hear colleagues’ stories and the activity allowed for some really interesting, detailed and good quality conversations. After this activity we got a little competitive, playing human ‘bingo’ where we had to race against each other to find team-members who fit the criteria on the bingo sheet. We found out things about each other we never knew before, like who plays different sports, who has lived abroad and even who can rap!
The main focus of the day was for both teams to reflect on what they achieved in the last year and their priorities for the next six months. For the quality improvement (QI) department improving service user involvement in QI projects is something the whole team wants to improve. Developing innovation around QI, focusing on supporting teams to get the best outcomes, and improving our proximity to the work, are the themes that the QI team took away to work on.
Figure one: a series of photos showing the strategy sessions held on the Quality away day
In the latter part of the afternoon, we fed back the outcomes of the strategy sessions to each other, answered questions and spoke about the practical next steps. Then, came the highlight of the day, the ‘amazing race’ which saw the team perform as many tasks as they could in 60 minutes in and around the Olympic Park – making the most of our fantastic venue and the opportunity to make new friends.
Tasks ranged from getting selfies with dogs, impromptu guided tours of the park, playing rock, paper, scissors with other park visitors and the hardest feat of them all, convincing Transport for London staff to sing a song together. Unsurprisingly many of the kind TfL staff obliged and to great timing as it turned out, with it being Quality Assurance Facilitator Brigita’s birthday. The perfect opportunity to sing!
Figure two: photos of the team ‘amazing race’ around Stratford Olympic Park
