The Team That Stopped Talking About Work

🧠 The Team That Stopped Talking About Work — I once watched a team of professionals go from checking emails on their phones 📱 to completely losing track of time 🎨. Their conversations slowly shifted from deadlines and clients to colours, childhood memories, and travel stories ✈️.

One Thursday afternoon, I arrived at a downtown office with a trunk full of paints, canvases, and my French easel. The team — about 20 people from the marketing department — had just wrapped up their last meeting of the day. A few of them kept scrolling at first, their minds still stuck in Slack threads and project timelines.

I set up my easel in the middle of the room, covered tables with vibrant art supplies, and we jumped into the painting activity — slow brushstrokes, bright colours, nothing too serious. To increase the engagement, I added a couple of games - sneaky brushstrokes, funny artist aliases - laughter filled the room. Within minutes, the vibe shifted: phones were flipped face down, voices got softer, and the first jokes began to appear. Someone accidentally turned their “calm sunset” into a fiery storm — and the whole table burst out laughing. A quiet designer layered unexpected colours, and a project manager admitted it was their first time holding a paintbrush since elementary school.

By the end of the session, the energy in the room had completely shifted. Conversations weren’t about deadlines anymore — they were about colours, travel stories, old memories, and favourite cities. People were leaning in, talking, smiling. 🎨✨ Since then, every team-building event I host includes creative art-related games — because that’s where the real magic happens.

And of course, the next day everyone returned to their work — energized and focused 💼 - with the feeling of belonging, personal value and company culture

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