Exploring Team Cohesion Through Food
Client: Genentech
Task: Culture Design, Workshop Design, Facilitation
Challenge: What can flavor teach us about team cohesion?
Team: Curiosity Atlas – Me: Experience Design, Gretchen: Facilitation & Client relations, Shana: Graphics
During our kick-off event, food scientist Dr. Ali Bashura taught us the perfect bite is a culmination of chemistry, biology, and even childhood memories. It’s that type of cohesion we drew on for inspiration when we partnered with the Genentech ClinOps program to reimagine their culture.
Over six months we examined their team dynamics through the lens of food -- the science of flavor, spirit vegetables, and recipes to best highlight their individual strengths -- and how they might compliment the strengths of their teammates. We tied the program together with an innovation session with management to develop new approaches to their work and teams. Team leads left with actionable, short-term experiments to implement in meeting structures, incentives, project plans, and policies and procedures.
