Working day with a difference

Now, more than ever, companies feel that they need to get the best performance from their employees. Someone once said that it’s not the hours you put in your work that count, it’s the work you put in the hours. It is widely accepted that focus from leadership and business teams improves greatly when they are taken out of their own office environment. All businesses want to ensure that they get the maximum return on any investment and gaining tangible results from a meeting or conference for employees has never been more important.

You may be about to launch a new service or introduce a new way of working. Success depends on getting your employees at all levels fully engaged in the new initiative. This could be the ideal opportunity to organise a meeting or a conference to build confidence and creativity.

I hold regular meetings in our hotels with my senior management team, away from the office and daily interruptions, in order to develop and plan our future strategy with some blue sky thinking.

At Hand Picked Hotels we have recently introduced a new approach to business for companies looking for inspirational and unconventional settings. Meetings etc is our new brand to deliver a bespoke event in stunning surroundings at our 17 hotels, all of which are close to major road links, airports and railway stations, and several close to London.

Taking your meeting or conference away from the office cuts out the distractions and allows everyone to focus on the agenda. It allows for creative thinking and problem solving in a fresh environment. The frustrations and minor personality clashes within the team can disappear when the task in hand is herding geese or archery, before an al fresco brainstorm. You can build morale, develop collaboration skills and communication.

A leading IT company held a conference at one of our hotels on an exclusive use basis. They had teambuilding activities using uncooked spaghetti and marshmallows, which must have involved some creative thinking! In the evening, an events company set up a traditional fairground carousel in the hotel courtyard, with candyfloss and popcorn stalls.

There are intimate panelled boardrooms or larger meeting rooms for more formal business meetings, with the very latest technology, delicious food and drink, backed by excellent service and the indulgence of a stay at a Hand Picked Hotel to make your staff feel valued and motivated.

And after the business of the day is over, a wine-tasting session led by one of our in-house wine experts is always guaranteed to set the mood for an evening of unwinding over a delicious dinner – at the end of a working day with a difference.