What an online tea break taught us about collaboration

The organic, informal daily tea break enjoyed by Solent University’s Learning Design team allowed for serendipitous conversations and the informal exchange of information and practice across networks. Through its post-lockdown transformation into a free-flowing, relatively unstructured team meeting focused on problem-solving, it became a liminal space where our individual networks could meet and cross-pollinate, creating connections and collaborations across the whole university community. Our person-centred approach allows for ownership and empowerment within a context of mutual support and shared insights along with personal authenticity. Together, we are able to create a learning environment that redefines productivity to value people and process over output.