The EMG 5th Annual Company Ball

Written by Kirstie Turner  |  Editorial Administrator, European Medical Group

Thursday 28^th March saw the EMG team travel to Seckford Hall, Ipswich, for our quarterly planning session and the 5^th annual company ball. The event is a chance to look back at the last quarter, plan for the next 90 days, and come together to celebrate our successes and work together to overcome our challenges. Here at EMG, the company goal is at the forefront of what we do: be the go-to place for healthcare professionals in Europe by 2025. Our vision works hand-in-hand with this goal: to create gold medal winners in everything we do.

The day began, as the very best do, with pastries and EMG company swag, along with a reiteration of our focus for the planning session: personal development and how much of our potential we are working at. Essentially, are we working at a 10/10? If not, what is holding us back? If we improve everything by 1%, the whole becomes infinitely greater.

Our CEO Spencer Gore created the mindset for the day: “What we want are people that give everything to become gold medal winners. However, on the way to winning gold, we’d rather have people crawl on to the podium, having given everything and won bronze, than they were jumping up and down on silver with energy left. To coin a phrase, it’s not just about winning, it’s about winning the EMG way”.

With that in mind, we looked back at the last 90 days and discussed some key successes and challenges for each department, as well as how we overcame these challenges. Brainstorming ideas for solutions to ongoing problems aided us in working on our plans for the next quarter. Everyone worked on a list of ‘personal development strategies’ to help us focus on, not just our departmental goals, but also on our personal goals. The plan helped us to outline where these can coincide.

Every employee at EMG recently took a talent dynamic test and we were left in suspense as to our results, until the day of the ball. Were we a star? Or a deal maker? All would be revealed. For some, the results were surprising, but whether categorised as a creator or a trader, we were able to see how these talent dynamics can work together across teams to create the very best work possible. Recognising our talent dynamic also helped us to focus on the areas in which we excel, and those which we need to work a little harder on.

Following this, Crista Cullen, Olympic gold medal winner and wildlife conservationist, delivered an inspiring and empowering session. She discussed the highs and lows she experienced on her incredible journey: from growing up in the Kenyan wilderness to quitting hockey after London 2012, to returning 10 months before the games, standing on the top of the podium at Rio 2016 and launching her own charity. Crista stressed the importance of teamwork and trust in being a gold-medal winner. She started a difficult conversation on recognising signs in our fellow employees; it’s great to notice when your peers are performing at their best, but what do we look like at our lowest, and how can team members boost us back up?

There is no denying Crista left an impression on all of us, and not just because she let us try on her gold medal! Hearing the fascinating stories of Crista’s 3 Olympic Games may have had an impact on our mindset going into the team activities, which this year took the (ever-so-slightly competitive) form of archery and laser shooting.

Our Casino Royale evening began with a black-tie reception, where the champagne was flowing and the buzz of excitement from the day was infectious. The award section of the ball gave us all the chance to celebrate the employees who went the extra mile this year. Everyone who works at EMG is here because we share 9 key values, and this year we wanted to award the top scorers in these value areas: Millie McGowan for loyal; Darren Brace for positive, passionate and gold-medal winner; Sen Boyaci for proactive and inspiring; Stacey Rivers for proud; Neira Kapo for different; and Magnus Barber for hardworking. There was also special recognition for those who had the top 10% of scores for values this year: in joint second place was Darren Brace, Millie McGowan, and Neira Kapo, and in first place, Sen Boyaci.  Last, but certainly not least, the Employee of the Year award was presented to Sen Boyaci for her gold-medal winning work in launching a new division within the company; creating a pharma magazine we, as a company, are extremely proud of.

A rewarding and inspiring day of planning ended with dinner, drinks, and dancing into the night. In working towards the company goal to be featured on the ‘Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For’, this event was certainly worthy of a place on that list and we were all came away energized and excited for, what we hope will be, another target-smashing quarter. Whether the new ‘21’ casino theme takes our 2020 company ball to Ipswich, Monte Carlo, or Las Vegas, it is sure to be another memorable event, leaving us all at EMG feeling motivated to continue down the path of gold-medal winning.