At Aquarius, we love an opportunity to learn new skills and work together as a team to produce something we’re proud of. Our team away day was no exception. In an 800-acre forest in the depths of West Sussex, we spent the day in our outdoor gear learning some bush craft and how we can achieve our business strategy in the coming year.
Under the expert tuition of Nathan, our guide for the day, we started with some animal tracking tips. There was plenty of evidence of deer, rabbits, badgers and horses as we walked through the stunning forest making our way to camp. What struck me was how easy it was to miss things along the way – and only when we stopped and had things pointed out to us did the forest really come to life.
Surrounded by natural resources, we learnt some varied uses for common plants like brambles, pines and nettles, sampling a few as we went, as well as how to spot the best fire wood and why not to stand too long under a beech tree.
Following our arrival at basecamp we got some hands-on experience of safe knife use getting to saw and carve hazel branches into tent pegs. We then used the pegs and various other pieces of kit to construct a super shelter from tarps. All team members needed to get involved to succeed, and many discovered new skills in the forest.
Alongside the various bush craft activities, we also had the opportunity to reflect on our individual strengths within the team, spend time thinking about how Aquarius can achieve our goals as well as ways to improve how we work as a team. In fact, the forest was an ideal location to discuss strategy since there are many things to be learnt in the forest which apply to the real world like ‘look down, look up and look around’!