There is something magical about the transformative nature of bread making. Simple ingredients are turned, by a simple process, into a feast for all the senses. Bread doesn’t just taste good; it looks appealing, it feels springy, it sounds inviting and of course it smells beguilingly, seductively enticing.

Not bad for flour, salt, yeast, water and a small amount of effort.

That was the basic proposition for the radius team’s away day in Spring 2015. ‘Let’s all go and learn (or improve) a new skill, let’s have a bit of friendly competition, let’s go home with some goodies. In short - let’s have a Bake Off!’

As one of the participants, I was asked to write about our baking experience, in a team building context.

It was tempting to present this as directly analogous with radius’ raison d’etre. After all, transformation is what we do; taking things and making them better; helping people to build teams that are greater than the sum of their parts.

But I feel this would err into corporate nonsense, attempting to convey a sense of gravitas and self-importance that has no foundation in reality (or at least in my vision of reality). Inspired by my colleague Adrian Nash’s excellent blog Authentic Authenticity Part Two, I decided to think about our Bread Making Team Building Day rather more carefully.

We have recently endured the General Election and experienced the nation’s three day commemoration of the 70th Anniversary of Victory in Europe. Since then huge earthquakes have devastated mountain villages of Nepal and beach holidays have been marked by tragedy.

It doesn’t take much of a sense of proportion to conclude that one team building day, making bread, is really not that important. And of course this is true. But it is - and I think this is important - a celebration of the ordinary. Bread making has been part of the everyday experience in hundreds of cultures, for thousands of years. It is quintessentially ordinary and no less important for that. The ordinary is what the Allies fought for; it is what the Nepalese people crave for and it is something that will elude those affected by recent events in Tunisia for some time.

So our little band of bakers weren’t doing anything out of the ordinary. There were no great heights to overcome, no adrenaline rushes, nothing remotely extreme. But we learned the deep satisfaction of creating something delicious and nutritious, individually and together. We shared the experience and we had a lot of fun.

What did we learn as a team building exercise? That the team is truly akin to the family; it plays together and it stays together.

We are truly indebted to our floury friend Susan Hudson at the Suffolk Food Hall, who shared her enthusiasm, showed us what to do and sent us happily home with our own crusty loaves and tasty focaccia.

That’s bread for you - tasty and extraordinary, in the way ordinary things can constantly surprise you with their capacity to impress and inspire. Rather like radius, rather like our clients, rather like life. If that’s not too much like corporate nonsense, thanks for reading!

Richard