You walk into the office. You could cut the tension with a knife, but you can’t quite put your finger on why. You proceed to your desk, check e-mails, and run in and out of your office as you catch people coming into the wider open plan office for queries – you can hear their voices and if you don’t catch them now, you may miss your opportunity. A couple of hours into your day, a Medical Secretary asks you ‘what time are we doing the competition?’  Your heart sinks. You had forgotten that today was the big day, the day for which the fierce competition had been building for weeks. But all days seem to roll into one at the moment, and you’re actually a day behind schedule in your head.

After a very successful Halloween themed buffet back in October and the usual office Secret Santa at Christmas, the team were keen to keep the festive themes going throughout the year and they suggested an Easter Bonnet Competition! You said you would organise for someone to judge and were just going to rope someone into participate on the day but in thinking you still had one day in which to persuade someone, you hadn’t yet organised this. You regrettably admit this to your Medical Secretary who then suggests she’ll ask one of her Consultants.

Not knowing what the response may be or whether they even have time to spare at lunch-time, their enthusiasm takes you by surprise; and not only to they agree to judge, they say they will pull together an entire panel of judges!

So, the time is set for 1.30 pm and the panel arrives to set up their table a few minutes early. Not only has the Consultant managed to get a Junior Doctor and a member of the Nursing team involved, they have quickly made their own scoring paddles. Everyone is seated and the crowd is gathering as the competitors are required to walk an invisible catwalk wearing their very creative bonnets as the judges raise their paddles to score them. Anyone entering the office at this time would have wondered what they had walked into but very few left; and actually stayed to see who got crowned as the winners.

Three clear reflections during this 30 minutes of Easter fun were:

1. We have some very creative staff within the team
   and we should think about how we can continue to draw out this creativity
2. These little events develop an infectious
   spirit, breed positivity and laughter; are a great morale booster and make for
   a productive workforce
3. Taking a 30 minute break to have some fun with
   the team is ok, regardless of how busy you are, and is important for team
   camaraderie

The team are already planning the next event…but we’ll keep that under wraps for now!

Check out some of the Easter Bonnet entries below which were then donated to the Children’s Ward.