More From Our Snowy Retreat
As I mentioned in last week's blog, I have many stories I'd like to share from my company retreat. This week, I'd like to focus on the overall goal of the retreat, which was to leave with a clear vision for the next year.
After our snowy arrival at WISP Resort last Monday, we settled in, had lunch, and got to work. We began by posting all of our "dreams" on the wall. Now these "dreams" could have been anything from personal to professional goals you'd like to accomplish over the next 3 years.
Being that there were 11 of us, and we each got 5 "dreams," there was a lot of variety happening on the dream wall. There was everything from increasing profitability, to participating in monthly soup kitchens, to renting a helicopter for our next company retreat (if you read last week's blog post, you'll get why this was a winner.)
After all 55 "dreams" were posted, we worked as a team to separate our dreams into categories. So, soup kitchen would go under "community." Profitability would fall under "finance." Renting a helicopter would fall under "never gonna happen." You get the picture.
The rest of the retreat was spent on brainstorming and strategy sessions about how to attain these goals. We started out as a group, then broke off into our departments, then met back with everyone to share our game plan.
Now, we've had strategy sessions before. But let's be real, no matter how cool a name you come up with, it's still a meeting. And no one really likes meetings.
The thing is this was, by far, the most successful "meeting" we've ever had. I left the retreat feeling like we had really accomplished something, even though at that point, it was only a vision. I think there are a couple different factors that contribute to that. For your next meeting, consider the following:
1. We had 2 full back-to-back days of strictly focusing on realistic, attainable goals. Typically, you have other things going on in your day besides just strategizing. When all your energy and brain power is honed in on creating a plan, it can be really powerful. 2 full days may seem excessive, but when we're talking about devising your master plan, 2 days is nothin'.
2. We weren't at the office. We were at a beautiful cabin in the woods, and it didn't even feel like work. I get it, not every company can take the whole crew to a mountainous retreat. But consider going to a park, or a nearby coffee shop for your next meeting. Gathering in new a environment can really help get the creative juices flowing.
3. We took meditation breaks. It's amazing what 10 minutes of just breathing can do.
4. Our personal goals were laid out in front of us. Literally written on a wall for everyone to see. When it comes to personal goals, we all dig a little deeper to find ways to accomplish them. It is, after all, your personal goals that give lasting passion and drive to your professional achievement.
5. Fear of failure was shutdown. We all publicly committed to the plan. We all also publicly committed to letting others know if we needed help with certain steps along the way. It can be scary to tell a colleague, or your boss for that matter, that your project isn't going as planned. But if you've all committed, and I mean really committed to recognizing and admitting your faults without fear of judgement, the likelihood of getting back on path is much higher.
At the end of this retreat, we took these dreams back to the office, and created our "dream wall," which is designed to remind us every day of our master plan.
Pretty cool, huh?
Dream on, friends.
Hannah