Team retreats are a great way to step away from daily routines and connect in a relaxed setting. For a remote organization like PCG, they're vital for building unity and camaraderie in real life. As a small business, it's tough to find time for our own needs. So, when we had the chance to spend a few days in Nashville, we made every second count.
We had several goals and topics to cover, so setting expectations and quickly inspiring the team was essential. So, I did what any former brand/design/entertainment pro would do: picked a theme and squeezed it dry! Being a woman-owned, woman-run business, hanging out in Nashville for the week, immediately led us to Dolly Parton. We found Dolly's story a perfect fit! Her big dreams align with our big goals, so I embraced maximalism and went all in on BIG DOLLY ENERGY.
Retreats might be informal, but that doesn’t mean chaos. We started with a presentation to organize key info, then created a detailed agenda, packing list, and expectations, all sent to the team beforehand.
We assigned roles, with the most important being "Time Lord." Claire monitored time, adjusted the agenda, and kept us on track. Jen, our founder, had power to extend time, but could only override Claire twice. Jen's Note: she only used one veto!
We also designated two areas for "squirrels" (social topics) and a "parking lot" (important business ideas that fell out of the current scope) to discuss later. This kept us focused without cutting anyone off or squashing the fun vibe. At one point, the only thing on our "squirrels" list was "Flava Flav's Clock". No idea what happened there...
And we did make sure to keep the fun and social aspect. Since PCG is fully remote, it was really important to us that the team got to spend time just being us. Being us involved talking about our lives, throwing an impromptu dance party, and finding the snacks. There isn't much you won't enjoy with some awesome people and a giant bowl of fondue.
We put away phones and laptops to enhance focus and respect everyone's time. We all know how one quick search can lead to answering emails and checking orders. To avoid this, we asked everyone to come prepared with their thoughts, providing a small notebook with the retreat invites for early notetaking. Sharing the agenda beforehand ensured there were no surprises about the topics.
Our Airbnb became a collaborative space with lots of post-its, and we tackled our big questions through a specific set of lenses: who will we become, who will we serve, and who will they help others become? Putting people in the equation is very important to us, so all strategic planning tries to keep the human-centered aspect of our work at the front.
While we won't go into every piece here, the sheer number of post-its tell the story: we thought. A lot. And we didn't always come up with the answers, either. In fact, we gave ourselves more work than we had when we walked in. The wonderful thing was that we gave ourselves the time to see where the chips could fall, praise our talents, be honest about our challenges, and take our own medicine.
PCG is ready to tackle 2025 with Big Dolly Energy and a whole lot of what makes us unique in the HR/People Ops space. Wanna come with? Check out our services!
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