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The Secret of BEST

The Social Housing team from Revenues and Benefits within Corporate Resources have a secret about BEST. The team’s BEST Leader Natalie Maragh introduced the Secret BEST section into her workshop as a way to encourage more of her team to take part.

Secret BEST is based on Secret Santa presents. The team all pick names out of a hat and have to spend £5 on that person’s gift. There is no set date for the present to be given, so people arrive to work with gifts being left on their desk by ‘Secret BEST’. This has had a great impact on the team’s motivation and has increased participation in the BEST workshop process. The anticipation of when and what their present will be has given the team a little added boost and something to look forward to at work.

One of the team’s actions has been to bake cakes for charities. They decided to raise money for different charities by all baking cakes and then selling them. They have raised £90 for Macmillan, £95.50 for St Basil’s Homeless Shelter and £108.50 for CLIC Sergant (children’s Cancer Charity) and British Heart Foundation. Their most recent charity cakes had a Valentines Day theme. They plan to continue this fab work with the next set of cakes possibly due around Easter.

One of the team members said "We've found that the BEST way to feel better about ourselves is by helping others."

BEST Leader Natalie concluded, “I’m glad that the team has really felt motivated and happy with the things that we have done regarding BEST. We have made our working environment a much happier place”.