Take it from a creative: thinking outside the box can bring teams closer and build a culture worth showing up for.
In financial services, we’re great at many things. Spreadsheets. Risk modelling. Regulatory frameworks.
But ask a room full of paraplanners to pick up a paintbrush or take part in a murder mystery game, and suddenly things can get a bit quiet.
This isn't a criticism - it's an opportunity! Because the slight awkwardness of stepping outside your comfort zone together? That's where some of the best team culture seeds are sown.
In financial services, we all know the value of investing wisely.
Team culture – the shared set of beliefs, attitudes and behaviours the shape the group – can really make or break the feel of your firm. And we think you’ll agree, that’s a smart place to invest.
At Verve, we've found that a magician at a countryside pub does more for team trust than any workshop agenda ever could.
Team culture has firmly moved up the agenda in recent years. Employees at every level are thinking more carefully about where they work and how it feels to work there. Authentic connections and a sense of belonging matter. They’re no longer just feel-good extras, but genuine drivers of performance, retention and day-to-day wellbeing.
And creative activities have a surprisingly powerful role to play here. Not because financial services teams are lacking in any way, but because creativity offers something refreshingly different from the usual rhythms of working life - and different, it turns out, is exactly what teams need from time to time.
When the team sits down to paint, play or build something together, the dynamic shifts in a really lovely way. The usual professional personas relax a little. The person who runs the team meeting with clockwork efficiency might find watercolours decidedly less cooperative. The quieter team member might turn out to have a real flair for storytelling in a murder mystery game.
That levelling effect is really valuable. It creates moments of laughter and mild chaos. These moments do something that no team meeting can quite replicate. They build trust. When we see each other being a little bit uncertain, a little bit playful, a little bit human, it changes the dynamic of their working relationships for the better.
Creative activities also ask people to think differently. We might be brilliant at analysing, evaluating, and making well-reasoned decisions - but creativity invites us to explore without a destination, experiment without a guarantee, and embrace a little productive uncertainty.
Practising that in a fun, low-stakes environment builds a kind of mental flexibility that pays dividends back in the office - in how teams adapt, collaborate, and tackle the unexpected (last-minute FCA request, anyone?).
The science backs this up nicely. Getting creative is restorative; it engages the brain in a different way, offers a counterbalance to cognitive fatigue, and triggers the kind of reward response that leaves people feeling recharged rather than drained.
But the real magic happens when the experience is shared. When we create together, we build something beyond whatever ends up on the canvas. We build shared memories, shared references, and a collective identity that sticks. We laugh at the same things. We cheer each other on. We see sides of each other that the usual working day rarely reveals.
That shift in how we see each other tends to linger. Back in the office, in meetings, in how we handle collaboration - things change for the better.
Embracing ‘creativity for culture’ doesn't take a big budget or a full away-day. It starts with saying yes to the slightly daft idea someone on the team floated three months ago - whether that’s for a “sip and paint” evening or a virtual escape room. Book the thing!
While a one-off session is great, it’s consistency that pays off in the long run. When your team enjoys spending time together, trusts each other and are prepared to chuckle at each other’s questionable artwork, they're usually in it for the right reasons.
Creativity isn't a nice-to-have bolted onto team culture.
Instead, it's one of the more effective ways of building it. It levels the playing field, builds trust through shared uncertainty, sharpens the mental flexibility your team relies on when things don't go to plan, and – importantly! - leaves everyone recharged.
When you do it together, and keep doing it, it becomes part of what your firm actually is.
You don't need a big budget or a full away-day to start; you just need to say yes to the slightly daft idea.
Want more ideas on getting creative with your team? Take a look at what we get up to at Verve – we’re always on board with the daft idea!
Laura is design lead at Verve, with a background in communications, UX and UI and a passion for developing a creative brand story that, like us, is always evolving.
