Retreat 2018!
As we entered our workshop room on Day 1 of the retreat, everybody commented on the number of chairs there were around the circle; it was evident that our team has grown considerably since last year. This made the retreat even more meaningful, as (for most of us) it was one of the first occasions where we were all in the same room at the same time.
I think a lot of people will agree: the retreat this year was our best yet. The venue, weather, food (and drink!) were all amazing. Mel, our facilitator, really helped us produce a set of achievable goals for the next year related to how we can professionally and personally grow with the company.
Why do we do retreats?
The retreat is an opportunity to work as a team and reflect on how we can grow together over the next year. It produces a set of outcomes that we aim to work on and revisit every few months.
They help to shape our business plan:
The business plan was built through collaboration. It was guided by conversations with the team and company retrospectives, as well as outputs of retreats gone by. This focus has helped us plan the growth of the company while putting in place some structures to help us accomplish this in a sustainable way.
What were the outcomes?
During the unconference on Day 1, we conversed about a variety of important topics and have created tangible actions that we’ll work on through our reinvigorated ‘dxw Fridays’.
From our ‘principles by profession’ created by team collaboration on Day 2, we were able to establish where we believe we can put these in place in our day-to-day work.
What’s next?
Starting from this Friday, we will work on our actions over the course of the next year and put in place the changes and development we wish to see.
Some of the areas that we will work on are:
- Diversity and inclusion: we are going to form a group with a clear mission of what we can be doing to support diversity and inclusion in various aspects of dxw life
- Feedback: we are going to run a session to build a set of principles/tips for giving/receiving/requesting feedback and publish these in our Playbook
- Managing stress: we will be writing about managing stress and the support we offer in the playbook and will be arranging eternal guidance from MH professionals. Read our latest blog post on managing stress here
- Maintaining dxw’s culture as we grow to new locations: the Ops team will be working to improve our video conferencing
- Strengthening our design capability & culture: we are holding an initial meeting covering our shared purpose and what our design principles/manifesto will be
We will be checking in on the progress of our retreat outcomes on Fridays.
Thanks to Mel. Our facilitator Mel worked incredibly hard, meeting with the team ahead of the retreat, coordinating with the venue to ensure the best environment for us and creating a fantastic two days that encompassed open space unconference style sessions and action planning to enable tangible outcomes.
