Building our team, building our business, building our society and building a lasting legacy
The challenge:

To utilise personal and professional skills, have fun, give back, demonstrate commitment to your team and feel great whilst supporting The Buddy Bag Foundation.

The outcome:

30 Buddy Bags full of love and all of the essential items delivered to a women’s refuge in Birmingham.

The impact:

The team at Pickford Solicitors Sutton Coldfield has purposefully created a legacy of love in the lives of 30 vulnerable children.

This shared experience has made a lasting impact and positive difference in the careers and lives of all team members.

About Pickford Solicitors

Pickford Solicitors, established in 2017 pride themselves on understanding their customers and providing a highly personalised service. Their team of legal specialists supports customers across the country in residential property, commercial property, family law and business law.

Pickford’s are clear on their growth ambitions, vision, values and philosophy.  They value people – their customers, their team players, their partners and the wider community.

At Pickford’s they are focused on creating an environment where team members feel empowered to contribute towards the success of the business and their own personal growth. 

The team also understands their responsibility for the social well-being of others. They all want to play their part in making a difference and take this very seriously.

So how does a business use its team development and staff engagement activities in a way to positively contribute towards the community?

In June 2019, Sinead Teague, Business Development Manager at Pickford solicitors worked with Donna Whitbrook Consulting on the next phase of team development and business growth. Sinead wanted to arrange an exciting, interactive and fun day and to give all team members an opportunity to develop, to get involved in shaping the future success of the business and to combine this with giving back in a meaningful way.

Studies show that people have higher engagement levels with cause related work. Motivation is high when team building activities can successfully demonstrate genuine social impact.

A team day to ensure business objectives were met which also included a team building ‘Buddy Bag in a Box’ challenge was designed to incorporate all of Pickford’s requirements.

A ‘Pack a Buddy Bag’ challenge box filled with 30 shopping lists which are age and gender specific was sent to Pickford’s from The Buddy Bag Foundation with clear briefing notes prior to their team day.

The Buddy Bag Foundation

The Buddy Bag Foundation was created in response to the rising number of children who enter emergency care after fleeing violent situations at home. Currently, 48000 children enter emergency care in the UK each year. Restoring a sense of safety and security into a child’s life during a traumatic time is one of the first steps to recovery. The Buddy Bag provides comfort when all else has been removed, providing these children with a few essential items to make the transition into emergency care a little easier.

A Buddy Bag is a backpack that contains all the essential items a child needs. It includes toiletries, pyjamas, socks and underwear. It also includes comfort items such as a book, an activity and a teddy bear called ‘Buddy’. The Buddy Bags are tailored to suit babies and children according to age groups and gender. A Buddy Bag is something a child can call their own, no matter where they go.

The brief

At the end of the team day two teams were decided upon, team leaders were appointed, and a full briefing was given. Each team was required to fill 15 bags with the specific essential items detailed in the Buddy Bag brief within the next 6 weeks. They were encouraged to:

·       leverage their network and enlist the help of others

·       ask retailers/organisations to donate any of the required items

·       raise money, ask for donations and buy the required items

·       get the required items by any means they had … other than stealing!

A check-in was scheduled by Donna at the half way stage to ensure that both teams were on track and the final whistle was blown on the challenge at the end of the 6 weeks period.

The outcome

On 15 August 2019 both teams successfully completed the challenge and filled all 30 Buddy Bags with love and the essential items required. The two team leaders then delivered all 30 Buddy Bags to a women’s refuge in Birmingham on the same day. 

Sinead Teague, Business Development Manager at Pickford Solicitors proudly shares her thoughts

‘The Buddy Bag Foundation is simply incredible. It leaves an ever lasting feeling of goodness. Prior to the ‘Buddy Bag Challenge’ some of the team had attended bag packs, the stories they would tell the rest of the team when they came back to the office were incredible. I am so glad the whole of the Pickford team was able to experience the charity and giving in this way. They all embraced the challenge fully. The 30 bags that we packed were filled with compassion, care and love. To then receive the ‘Company of the Month’ award from Buddy Bag Foundation was just the icing on the already sweet tasting cake.’

Each team gave a post-challenge analysis to Karen Williams, Buddy Bag Foundation Founder and Donna Whitbrook to share the highlights of how they approached their challenge, their team dynamics and their thoughts and emotions throughout. They explained what it meant to them personally, the skills they had utilised, the lessons learned and above all the positive and lasting impact this challenge has had on them and their team.

It was evident that all participants had engaged on an emotional level, they expressed feelings of pride, fulfilment, feeling humbled, inspired, energised and highly motivated.

Donna Whitbrook of Donna Whitbrook Consulting commented

‘A culture of giving back is one of the most inspiring ways to engage employees. If we focus on ensuring our team members understand their value and the impact they are making we can create the desire to do more. This sets the stage for a purpose filled environment.

Cultivating employee passion and better informing teams about the positive impact volunteering has on them individually and collectively is essential to employee well-being, team performance and business growth.’

Team Pickford’s has created value in their business, added value for their customers and made a positive difference in the careers and lives of all team members through this shared experience.

They have also purposefully created a legacy of love in the lives of vulnerable children.

To find out more about how your company could take part in a team building challenge with Buddy Bag Foundation and help restore a sense of safety and security in vulnerable children’s lives contact founder Karen@buddybagfoundation.co.uk

To learn more about the impact on Pickford Solicitors team, customers and the wider community contact sinead@pickfordsolicitors.com

Pickford Solicitors and Donna Whitbrook Consulting will be sharing the video of their ‘Buddy Bag in a Box’ challenge soon. 

Author: Donna Whitbrook donna@donnawhitbrook.com