Last week, Valour Consultancy team members from across the world were reunited at Belton Woods Hotel; thirteen miles from our headquarters in Grantham, Lincolnshire. Our employees traveled from as far as Australia to celebrate us winning the King’s Award for Enterprise! It was a fabulous opportunity for us to see each other and host a strategy day, as well as team building exercises.
Since our inception in 2012, Valour Consultancy has grown rapidly and hosting a strategy day was a perfect moment for us to reflect back on our past achievements and discuss the ways we can continue to build upon our success. Highlights included discussions around our launch into the land mobility sector, how we can expand our bespoke consultancy services, and the ways in which we can offer our clients an even higher value service. We were also delighted to be joined by two clients via video call. They shared some excellent feedback with us, which we will use to help shape the format and delivery of our market intelligence.
Next on the agenda was a team building activity; the exact details of which remained a secret to our employees right up until the day! Standing outside a darkened room, they were excited to hear they would be completing the ‘Crystal Quest’, even if our younger employees weren’t sure what this was (think Crystal Maze from the 90’s). All they knew is that they wanted to win!
Several large perspex boxes equipped with buzzers, cables, ball bearings, ropes, and other items that office people usually aren’t good with, were set up in a circle. Each box’s team building task, such as using four ropes to move around a board with a maze of corridors to get a ball bearing from one side to the other, had to be completed within 10 minutes to receive a crystal (sadly, they weren’t real).
An hour and a half sounded long to begin with, but definitely flew by after the first few crystals had been won. The teams greatly improved with each task, so despite team building being something one might usually dread, we’re pleased they thought it was fun! In the end, it was a tie breaker between Teams 1 and 2 with the prize being a bottle of prosecco (which, after the night before, no one really wanted anyway). It was all about the legacy – long live Team 2 who won after a near draw in the tiebreaker round!
The Valour team finished a fantastic couple of days with a celebration; an awards ceremony for the King’s Award for Enterprise in the category of International Trade! The award, which was presented by deputy lieutenant of Lincolnshire, Nick Foster, is a significant honour.
After also winning the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in 2020, we are just one of 148 organisations nationally to be recognised with the accolade (the highest official UK award available to British businesses). It was truly a reason to celebrate, and celebrate we did!
An afternoon tea with the team and their families was the perfect way to catch up and commemorate everything we have achieved. Directors Craig Foster, Daniel Welch, John Devlin, and Joshua Flood received the award on behalf of the Valour team, and after a few words and photos to mark the occasion, we began our journeys home.
Overall, the two days spent in Grantham was a fantastic opportunity to get together, celebrate all we have achieved, and look towards the future. Many exciting times to come as our team continues to grow!
If you would like to view more photos from the day, you can access the full gallery here.
