Last week was my team’s first offsite since I transitioned into the President role of Organic Olivia. As a business leader, my first inclination in planning this offsite was to sit the team down and chat through our goals, our KPIs, our opportunities, and everything in between. And then it occurred to me - anything that can be done on zoom shouldn’t be done IRL, especially when you are a remote company and have a finite time together. But real human connection - that’s the one thing zoom can’t buy. My leadership style is to let emotion drive action, and so I knew that it’s where I had to focus.
Many of our core team members had never met each other in person, and so I strategically scheduled the events in our offsite to connect us in a way that we hadn’t done before. Location: NYC, the most vibrant city in the world and where 40% of our team resides, at the chic and sophisticated Public Hotel.
What did our time together include? Bringing in my incredible coach Allison L. Barnes, MA, PCC to lead a Lumina Spark full-day workshop, where we each got to take a personality assessment, learn more about our own personalities and what makes each of us tick on the team (spoiler alert - you learn how each person behaves when they’re overstretched, and thus how to approach them to de-escalate the situation). It also included a yoga and mala bead workshop led by my yoga instructor Ana, to connect to our bodies and add in some spirituality into the mix. We also had a few hours for what I called “slack IRL” - a time to ping pong ideas, ask questions you’d typically post on slack, and have a casual environment to get last minute work done. And of course, it included 3 incredible meals - because nothing brings people together like food.
The outcome of the offsite? Greater understanding of ourselves and increased connection to each other. When you give people the safe space to be seen and heard, they will move mountains for you. And that’s exactly what we accomplished 🔥 #offsite #remotework #leadership #teamwork #healthandwellness
National Sales Account Manager
9moWonderful product! I would love to quote on you custom printed packaging.