A special Mid-year seminar marking 10 years of collaboration
Each year at the start of summer, our team gathers for a day of festivities at our Mid-year seminar. Learning, laughter, camaraderie and a celebration of our accomplishments, it’s a day where colleagues can get to know each other better in a relaxed atmosphere, and where our directors can share their vision of what’s coming up in the months to come. This year was particularly special as we celebrated ten years of working together!
Looking back at our major milestones and forward towards the future
To kick off our seminar, our President, CEO and CTO presented the major milestones in the SuperGrid Institute adventure since the institute’s creation in 2014. From the initial project proposal to the official approbation from the European Commission, hiring our first staff member, publishing our first PhD, signing our 100th, and 200th staff contract, moving into our new building, inaugurating our HQ, and our High Power Source platform, licensing our first results, coordinating our first collaborative project, providing services for our first clients… the path has been an exciting one with lots of successes to celebrate!
For our newer team members, the presentation allowed them to gain a better understanding of our history and a give them a sense of belonging to a bigger story.
The management then shared their priorities for the upcoming months, giving us a shared vision to work towards. This is a valuable moment for our team and is always highly appreciated at our mid-year seminars.
Learning through laughter – communication skills with the DISC method
Next up, a special activity teaching us how to better understand and communicate with each other, in the form of a one man show! We invited an external production to come in and perform their show which uses humour to present the DISC method, a technique which makes it easier to understand the differences in our personalities and to identify with the people we interact with daily. A useful learning experience disguised as fun!
Peer recognition and prizes with our Employee Awards
Our event continued with our Employee Awards prizegiving ceremony! This ceremony was the culmination of a month-long vote where employees could nominate each other for different categories of prizes (Work and collaboration, Atmosphere, People’s Choice Award) highlighting the members of our team who don’t just contribute to what our SuperGrid Institute DOES but what SuperGrid Institute IS.
As well as being a centre for research and innovation, SuperGrid Institute is also a place of socialising, a company where colleagues get on in and outside of the office, a place where people at the start of their careers can learn from their more experienced colleagues and grow, and an environment where people are committed to their work and to their colleagues.
We wanted to use this occasion to highlight our unsung heroes, providing a platform for our staff to receive recognition from their colleagues and to know that both they and their work are appreciated.
Games, visits, cake and old friends
Our day ended with a festive evening of games, activities and food shared with friends, family and former colleagues who were invited especially to celebrate this 10-year anniversary with us! It’s always nice to hear from our former teammates, most of whom have remained in our sector… and it’s good to have a festive pretext to get back in touch! We were thrilled that so many of them made the trip to be with us for this special event!
