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Don’t Skip This New Year Resolution: Why the Commitment Matters for Teams

  • shannon6068
  • Dec 21, 2025
  • 2 min read

by Grei Ledda


New Year’s resolutions are quite a common tradition for many individuals. For many leaders, the New Year is a moment to reset with intention — to encourage clarity, motivation, and a shared sense of purpose from the very beginning.  

  

The behavioural research of Dai, Milkman, and Riis of 2014 [1] supports this and details that a psychological “reset” is created at clear transition points such as the start of a new year. This makes teams more motivated and open to shared goals, especially when those goals are framed collectively rather than individually. This is described as the “Fresh Start” effect.  



At the same time, the challenge holds for the post-holiday slump. However, forcing employees to break through this by laying down the new year goals abruptly is not ideal for them to thrive. Interestingly, according to Ben-Jamin Toy, co-founder of the Cohesion Culture, 85% of employees feel more engaged after participating in team building activities. [2] Wouldn’t this be a smoother way to ease your team, bouncing back into productivity and momentum? 



This is where a purpose-driven team building experience at the start of the year can make a real difference for your team.  

  

Nulab’s 2023 report shows that volunteering is 63.6% effective and 66.5% valuable according to the responding group [3]. This tops company retreats and other common forms of team building in comparison. This is a huge plus compounding on the common concern for budget allocation when planning to bring your team out and beyond the office walls. 

  

Macquarie Group is a great example of benefiting these principles. They are widely regarded as a major and top-tier company not just in NSW, but also globally in financial services. Yet, that is not the only achievement they scored. They have been regularly sending employees to team building activities with Our Big Kitchen and have produced more than 11,000 meals in the past year alone.   

  

What a feat! 

  

When teams come together with purpose, even one person can create meaningful impacts and beyond.  You jumpstart for  

  • stronger connection,  

  • healthier communication, and  

  • a culture that feels supportive, human, and motivating. 

  

  

This can be your team next year. An OBK Team Experience brings teams together to do good — any time of the year. Download the OBK New Year One Pager to see how you can take part.  

  

By the way, just one individual is equivalent to one struggling family of 5 with warm meal packs! An easy win to start an impact on your team’s year and make everybody proud. 






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