“Trust the Process.”

As the Tyler admin team gathered around the conference room table painting wooden holiday signs, Manager Summar Sinclair kept encouraging her team and telling them to trust that their holiday door hanger would turn out tremendous they did.

It was mid-afternoon on a Tuesday, and the team wasn’t taking phone calls or responding to sales questions. No, they had just returned from a group lunch and were currently laughing, chatting, and working away at their given craft. There was no talk of lease agreements or toner needs this afternoon. It was a “break out session” from their routine day in the cubicles.

Trust the team building process.

It’s also part of a bigger processes – one built around culture and team trust. Team building activities like this have been gaining momentum across the organization, giving employees the chance to break bread and then break away from the everyday routines to build camaraderie and breed familiarity with one another. After all, those who stay together, play together too.

Thus far, Datamax groups in various departments have visited escape rooms. They’ve thrown axes, knitted Christmas sweaters, made fall wreaths, enjoyed pedicures, created door mats and painted pottery. They’ve gone bowling and even smashed everything in sight in a Rage Room.

“It’s nice to be able to relax and hang out with the people you work with. This helps everyone grow closer together and builds a better relationship with one another, and not just have a work relationship,” Summar said. “When you have more of a personal relationship with coworkers, it makes for a better work environment and people are more willing to help others when needed. It all around is a great experience and a very fortunate event to have a company that cares about their employees.”

Here's a snippet of sentiments on team-building events from East Texas.

Amber Johnson

Tyler Office

I believe you can learn a lot about others over a meal, from the types of foods they like and dislike to whatever topics may be brought up to discuss or jokes being made. All a part of learning to be a team and knowing how to communicate with one another.

My favorite activity? We went to Boards & Brush in Lindale and made our own doormats, which was super cool because I would never consider myself crafty like that. I love that we were given ample designs to choose from and taken to lunch beforehand. It is something that I can use at my house and not just take up space/make clutter. I appreciate that so much!

Melba Gipson

Tyler Office

Team building should be an inspiration to all team members. In the workforce, we are a family outside of our natural family. Team building opens up new ideas and horizons that we can as a team can find out about each other.

Out team in Tyler has done projects in crafts that I have never even thought to do. Summar is very good in crafts and her positive attitude keeps us encouraged and makes us think we could be like a world-famous Leonardo Da Vinci 😊 yeaaaaaaaa!

Jordan Conley

Tyler Office

It's always good to build a better culture for your team and the group makes some good memories we can talk about later. Meals seem to be something that brings everyone together and isn’t forced. I have loved the activities that we get to do a craft that we can use and keep! I still have everything we have made set up in my home.

Lisa Seale

Sulphur Springs Office

What do I personally gain from these Team Building Activities? Friendship and a sense of being able to communicate and enjoy each others company outside the office. I really enjoyed the trip to Board & Brush in Lindale, Texas. We had such a great time and got to create some neat stuff. Had a great lunch and then went and designed and painted our door mats for home.

Lori Larson

Tyler Office

The activities we do are unique and often something new to me, so I am learning new things while having a great time with co-workers. Having lunch together allows us time away from the work setting to sit back and relax, while talking and sharing stories (and laughs) and learning things about your co-workers that you wouldn’t normally have time to talk about.

I liked painting and personalizing the rugs at Board & Brush, it was a fun thing to learn and the end result was I had a rug personalized with my dogs’ names, that looks great outside the patio door.

Break-Out Sessions.

“Trust the Process.”

Amber Johnson

Melba Gipson

Jordan Conley

Lisa Seale

Lori Larson

Summar Sinclair

“It’s nice to be able to relax and hang out with the people you work with. This helps everyone grow closer together and builds a better relationship with one another, and not just have a work relationship!"