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Team Building Experience
Spice blending for team innovation
Why choose spice blending?
We live in an era of highly disruptive challenges; Covid-19 and its impact on every part of society is a recent example of this. In the business world, such challenges require organisations to develop ways in which to quickly adapt and separate themselves from the competition.
This is all well and good, but the question is how?
Innovation sits at the heart any successful business and although there are plenty of existing tools around design thinking and the innovation process, many ideas stay at the creative phase and never amount to meaningful change due to the absence of an environment that fosters innovation and collaboration.
”When you need to innovate, you need collaboration.”– Marissa Mayer
This Spice Blending Experience intends to tackle a ‘slice of the elephant’, by creating a simulated environment where organisations can experiment with some of the key success factors prevalent in innovative teams.
Through spice blending we appreciate the unique qualities of each spice, like with each team member. And moreover, we unleash a greater power when these spices collaborate to create the perfect, goal driven and purposeful blend. Welcome to Spice Blending for Team Innovation, the fun, creative and immersive team building experience.
What's in it for your organisation?
In addition to what our clients say...
Through this experience, organisations are:
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Armed with a common understanding of what successful team innovation looks like
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Filled with a deeper appreciation for the value of functional diversity and how to leverage it
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Able to collaborate better across functional hierarchies
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Enabled to respond to the demands for change, and to make appropriate changes at local level
Key principles of the spice blending experience
What is team innovation?*
Team innovation is considered to be the manifestation of a teams’ effort to cope successfully with the changes in their work environment.
It enhances an organisations ability to redirect and focus resources effectively, appropriately and more quickly than its competitors.
And enables all members of the organisation to respond to the demands for change, and to make appropriate changes at local level.
Factors to assess the effectiveness of team innovation*
*Based on published research by Michael A West and Claudia A Scramento, 2006
What to expect during the experience
The experience is led by chef Raj, founder of Scratch Cook Social. Before establishing the business in 2023, Raj had a successful 22 year corporate career leading international teams delivering high-tech solutions to the automotive industry.
This pivot into the food space was borne out of his passion for creating exciting and tasty dishes, drawing on his experiences of living and working around the globe, while always acknowledging a deep appreciation and respect for his Indian heritage.
This fun, novel and interactive team building reflects on published research in the field of work psychology and Raj's real world experience of managing change in the work place. Moreover, this experience hold's space for the participants to learn and experiment with the idea of team innovation, with the use of Indian whole spices.
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During this first part, Raj will lead the group on a journey of spice exploration while sharing his own experiences of team innovation.
The first thing we recognise when opening a tin of spices is the impact on our senses. We suddenly become alert to the visuals, aromas - and by handling the spices - also the textures and flavours. So we begin with introducing a new dimension to the group - the change upon which we wish to experiment with team innovation.
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Armed with this new learning, the group is divided up into smaller teams, preferably made up of colleagues who work in different functional areas.
The teams will be given the time bound task of creating their own masala blend, using their creativity to initially draw out the purpose of their blend, but to eventually innovate a solution which can be commissioned by the Scratch Cook Social team who will grind down and package-up the masala for the participants to take home.
While the Scratch Cook Social team take care of the masala blends, the participants get to enjoy the rewards of their hard work. And what better way to experience those spices than by tasting some dishes cooked using Raj's very own Handcrafted Tandoori Masala.
A bespoke lunch or early evening dinner (depending on the time of day of the experience) will be curated together with the client to suit the event, dietary requirements and/or food preferences.
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Sample Menu
Toasted cumin spiced poppadom's
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Delicately spiced homestyle chicken Curry
or
Boldly aromatic and slow-cooked chickpea curry (Vegan)
Steamed rice
Tomato and pickled onion salad
Minted yogurt sauce (Vegan Option available)
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Indian Spiced dessert (Vegan Option available)
Includes Water and Soft Drinks
What people say about the experience
"Interactive. Collaborative. Fun. I really enjoyed learning about the different spices and how they might balance when put together. It was really fun trying to blend spices with the team, coming up with the spice mix name and trying to put together something that might just be edible! A lot of fun. The food was also fantastic."
Louise, DHL Supply Chain
"Informative. Fun. Networking. [I really enjoyed] learning more about the spices and cooking and working together in a team. Really enjoyed the food provided."
Matt, DHL Supply Chain
"Sensory. Educational. Fun. Learning to actually think about and plan a spice mix."
Alex, DHL Supply Chain
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