In-Person and Intentional

In the past 6 months, we have shifted from almost entirely virtual staff retreats to mostly in-person. It’s an understatement to say that this return to face-to-face time with coworkers has been welcomed by most everyone, including the team here at The Spark Mill.

The energy of being all together for the first time in years for many of our clients is electric.

How we work has forever been shifted, and it’s quite clear that some things are never going back. Considering that there are multiple studies that have found that people would rather quit their jobs than work in an office 100% of the time, many of our clients, along with the rest of the world, are adjusting expectations and figuring out how to do hybrid telework, or 100% remote work all together.

What we have learned from our work with clients is that, for the most part, success and results don’t require everyone to be together in an office every day. However, what we can unofficially share as organizational development consultants is that more time apart requires intentional time together to build a work culture that retains workers.

“ ...time together where the laptops are put away, emails are left unanswered, and the team is able to think, reflect, and dream together, share a meal, talk about what Halloween costumes their kids wore, and develop inside jokes that will show up in slack conversations for months to come. ”

While some clients can’t wait to get together for an in-person retreat, there are just as many who are skeptical and just really don’t want to do it. How do we know? Because they tell us. It seems like the most reluctant at the start of the day are usually the ones asking that more in-person time is built into the team calendar at the end.

As we are building out next steps to wrap up the day, it’s a common request that “we need more of this.” “This” is time together where the laptops are put away, emails are left unanswered, and the team is able to think, reflect, and dream together, share a meal, talk about what Halloween costumes their kids wore, and develop inside jokes that will show up in slack conversations for months to come.

If your team is feeling disconnected, they might not need more time simply working in the office together. Here at the Spark Mill, we’d be honored to lead your team through a facilitated retreat that will fill their very specific needs to help them feel connected in this new way we do work.