Have you ever been on a retreat? Have you wondered what are the nuts and bolts? What systems are in place, how are these things structured? If you have attended one, then you know what happens. If not, then you may wonder what goes on at those mysterious weekend or week long events. I’d love to tell you about my recent retreat experience, because it says a lot about work culture.
First, it’s important to know that there are several types of retreats, and they aren’t all work related. There are spiritual retreats, wellness retreats and couples’ retreats. You experience things like going off grid, digital detox, community, relaxation time, healthy food and enjoying yourself.
However, my first retreat was a business retreat. I didn’t have expectations of relaxation and going off grid. In fact, I didn’t have expectations or plans at all. I made every effort to keep a totally open mind. However, to keep things in perspective, I have done some research since then and most business retreats are designed to better the company culture. They are structured with a blend of programs and meetings designed to improve the company as a whole with smaller events planned around team building and improving company morale.
Well, that’s nothing like what we did. Our retreat wasn’t anything like that. We are a group of coaches and trainers, each with our own companies. We operate under licenses through Codebreaker Technologies, who held the retreat. The retreat was literally in the home of our President and CEO, who hosted a small group of highly motivated coaches and trainers for 3 days. This was their second weekend in a row to do this. They focused their energy on us. That’s right, us. They poured their knowledge and expertise, and understanding of their system and methodology into furthering our businesses toward our goals. That’s huge.
What came out of this was amazing. We all grew in terms of community and personal growth, but that wasn’t the amazing part. What blew my mind was the collaborations that sprang up out of this weekend. If someone said, “I’m struggling here,” or, “I need help with this project over here,” instead of the President or CEO having to come to their rescue, one of the group members would say, “I’ve got your back on that.” “I’ve been doing that, I can help.” Or, “Let me show you how that’s done.” We leveraged each others strengths and built a system of support that will last for years, if not a lifetime. It was as if we felt a duty to share our strengths with our fellow coaches and help them succeed. We also rejoiced in one another’s successes as if they were our own.
This was interspersed with good food, exercise in the fresh air, time on the beach, and plenty of pushing our own boundaries for personal growth. Each of these coaches and trainers is making people matter and changing the world in their own way. Why would I tell you this? Because I’d like to invite you to become a part of this. If you want to work in this kind of environment, let me know. We’re doing a couple of workshops over the next 2 weeks where you can check this out and see if it’s for you. Put your toe in the water, so to speak. You’ll get an opportunity to meet some of our people and demo our state of the art artificial intelligence, as well as put our systems to the test. For more information, contact us.
