Your Team Doesn't Need Another Teams Call

Hybrid working has given teams more freedom, fewer unnecessary commutes and the ability to work from wherever they are most productive.

It has also given us a lot of video calls.

For quick updates and everyday conversations, Teams is brilliant. But some things become harder when every idea has to pass through a screen.

Creative conversations lose their rhythm. Difficult topics take longer to resolve. New starters can meet everyone without really getting to know anyone.

Sometimes, your team doesn’t need another Teams call. It needs a genuinely worthwhile day together.

Some work is simply better face-to-face

Bringing people together shouldn’t mean asking everyone to commute just to sit silently on their laptops.

The most valuable team days are built around work that benefits from being in the same room. That might include:

• Setting priorities for the next quarter.
• Tackling a challenge that has become stuck.
• Brainstorming or developing a new idea.
• Welcoming new members of the team.
• Running training or sharing knowledge.
• Reconnecting after a busy or particularly remote period.

These are the moments when body language, spontaneous questions and the conversation after the conversation really matter.

A ten-minute chat beside the coffee machine can resolve something that has survived three scheduled calls.

Start with a reason, not a rule

“Everyone must come in on Wednesday” isn’t a compelling reason to leave home.

A much better starting point is to decide what the team should achieve by being together.

If people know why the day matters, how they’ll contribute and what they’ll take away from it, it feels purposeful rather than performative.

That purpose doesn’t have to be entirely serious. Productive work and enjoyable time together belong in the same day.

Plan the workshop, make the decisions and finish the presentation, but leave room for lunch, coffee and conversations that would never appear on an agenda.

Those less structured moments help people build the trust that makes the structured work easier.

Give the day a change of scenery

A good team day should feel different from an ordinary day of calls and inboxes.

The environment plays a bigger part in that than it may seem.

Bringing everyone into a bright, comfortable space with room to gather, break into smaller groups and step away for a coffee can give the day fresh energy.

It also helps to have a space that belongs to your team for the day. You can settle in, leave ideas on the whiteboard, spread out your notes and move between focused work and conversation without having to keep packing everything away.

Build a day people will value

You don’t need to fill every minute. In fact, trying to do too much can make a team day feel like one long meeting.

A simple structure often works best:

1. Begin with a clear outcome for the day.
2. Use the morning for the work that needs everyone’s energy and attention.
3. Take a proper break together away from the laptops.
4. Leave time for smaller conversations or focused follow-up work.
5. End with clear decisions, owners and next steps.

Most importantly, make the day worth people’s time.

A successful team day should leave everyone feeling clearer, more connected and glad they made the journey.

Bring the team together without taking on a full-time office

You don’t need a permanent office to give your team a proper place to work together.

DeskLodge Team Day Offices give teams a private base for the day, with comfortable workspaces, meeting facilities, breakout areas, great coffee and the energy of the wider DeskLodge community around them.

Turn up, bring the team together and make the day count.

When the work is done, you can pack up and return to working in whatever way suits your team best.

Planning a team day in Bristol? Find your Team Day Office at DeskLodge.