The team behind Frostbit.

The team and team bonding.

Frostbit is a start-up company located in Rotterdam. Our team consists of eight team members, with their own stories. Half of our team is not Dutch. The Chief Executive Officer, Stefania, is born in Romania. The Human Resource Manager, Regina, is born in Hungary. The Marketing Manager, Sami, is born in Austria and the Finance Manager, Nephtalie, is born in Haiti. This makes the company diverse. The other half of the team Gwen (Sales), Lara (Finance), Arno (Communication) and Michelle (Purchase), are Dutch. We all bring our own values to our enterprise. The cultural differences could sometimes causes a problem, but most of the time the differences contribute to the company. Everyone has their own ideas and those ideas are incorporated in the enterprise. We are a young team of entrepreneurs learning about the process of doing business. The goal of the team is to introduce the stone ice cubes on the market.

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How did our team bond during the year?

When we were starting up the company, we learned about the stages a team goes through when entering the company. The model is called Tuckman’s stadia. The model states that a team goes through four stages. The four stages are forming, storming, norming and performing. The Frostbit team experienced all these stages. The forming stage is about the individuals of the company, the storming stage is about the individuals coming together. The norming stage is about being a closed team and the performing stage is about the team being open. Our company experienced all the stages. At the start we were all individuals coming into the team, some of us did not know each other well. As a team, we decided that we wanted to do a fun activity to bond. We went out for dinner at Super Mercado, a Mexican restaurant. There, we got to know each other better. Frostbit really created their team during the activity. When we wrote the business plan, we were becoming a closed team. Everyone knew their role and acted in the way a team should behave. In the end of 2019, we had our first shareholder presentation. That was the first time we showed our plan to our shareholders and show our team. This was a huge success! We only became closer in the time after the first half year.

Tips for team bonding.

The first tip I have for team bonding is doing activity together such as, bowling, dinner or an escape room. It really helps getting to know one another and not in a work environment. Seeing each other in another environment would help seeing your team in a different light. The second tip is to give each other and the group feedback. Do this continually. It could help with improving the communication in your business. What does the team want to change, regarding the internal communication of the business? The third and last tip is to be proactive about the company. It is very important not to depend too much on each person in the group. Everyone is responsible for the company!

Gwen Boers Sales manager