Sunshine, fresh thinking, and a completely different kind of leadership experience — today’s Safari Summer Social at Chester Zoo delivered it all.
Shared Services Forum UK brought leaders together for a day that stepped firmly away from the usual meeting room and into something far more memorable. Set in the stunning surroundings of the zoo, the energy was high from the start, with attendees arriving to amazing breakfast pastries, great coffee, and even better conversations as the community came together.
The tone quickly shifted from relaxed to thought-provoking as leaders joined the standout workshop, Survival Strategies: Stepping into the Wild to Rethink Resilience, led by James Allen of Creative Huddle.
This wasn’t your typical resilience session. Instead of the usual “bounce back” narrative, the workshop challenged leaders to rethink resilience as a set of different survival strategies, brought to life through powerful animal archetypes. From collective strength to quiet tenacity, the session sparked honest reflection, new perspectives, and plenty of lightbulb moments across the room.
The result? Honest reflection, new perspectives, and plenty of those “we don’t talk about this enough” moments.
As the sun continued to shine, we went out into the zoo for our team building Cuckoo Heist - think The Traitors, but with a zoo-inspired twist.
Teams worked against each other to complete challenges, collect eggs, build nests, all while trying to uncover the hidden saboteurs (the cuckoos). Suspicion, strategy, and plenty of laughs filled the space as alliances were formed and questioned in equal measure. And to bring it all to life, we even had Ed the Ranger (aka our very own Claudia Winkleman) guiding the challenge, adding to the drama, the intrigue, and the fun.
The day wrapped up in the best possible way, with a delightful lunch, relaxed networking, and conversations that carried well beyond the sessions themselves.
A huge thank you to everyone who joined us and brought such brilliant energy to the day. And a special thank you to James Allen and Creative Huddle for delivering a workshop that truly got people thinking differently.
Events like this are a reminder that when you change the environment, you change the conversation and today proved just how powerful that can be.
