With the new year comes fresh motivation and enthusiasm. A time to consider implementing some new ideas and increasing employee engagement; perhaps setting up team meetings for the year ahead, introducing a Suggestions Box, Annual Awards or even plan for a Charity Challenge… all of these are some ways to help employee engagement and offer team building opportunities.
As a team here at CitrusHR Consulting we were keen to make the most of the fresh enthusiasm and at our first team meeting of the year, agreed to engage in a charity challenge. Being South West HR Consultants; Gloucestershire and Bristol are our largest regions we cover, we wanted to do something in the area and support local. We decided to support the Gloucestershire Deaf Association (GDA) as they are celebrating their 100th year anniversary #GDATurns100. GDA are a wonderful charity that make such a difference to local Gloucestershire families and individuals that are deaf or hard of hearing.
We have agreed to support them by learning 100 signs, in 100 days. None of us have ever signed before. We started the challenge on 14th January and aim to finish on 29th March 2019. We are following the British Sign Language; it’s harder than we initially thought, and our memory skills are definitely being put to the test! We hope this not only raises valuable funds for GDA but also raises awareness of how some deaf and hard of hearing people feel – it can be a very isolating disability. Through watching us learn various words and phrases, we want to encourage others to also learn some. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone knew how to ask; “Are you OK?” or “What is your name?” in British sign language, it would help break the barrier between the deaf and hearing.
If you would like to sponsor us, you can do so here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/100signs100days
We will be keeping you updated with our progress via our social media platforms, so watch this space!
Additional to this challenge, one of our Directors; Kirsty Senior is taking part in the Bath Half Marathon in March 2019, raising money for the wonderful and very worthy charity MIND. Kirsty’s chosen charity do fantastic work and support local individuals and families to manage and cope with mental health issues. Kirsty is in full swing with her training, we will keep you updated with Kirsty’s progress and you can sponsor her here: https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/KirstySenior
Completing charity challenges is not only great because they raise money for worthy causes, but they also encourage the team to work differently, get creative and co-operate outside of normal work talk and routine.
What do you have planned for 2019? We’d love to hear from you. Please get in touch with us directly: CitrusHR Consulting, call us on 0844 854 6704 or email us at: info@citrushrconsulting.com.