Corporate Retreats and Leadership
designing retreats for you
We have many years experience in leading corporate retreats from Australia to Korea, Paris to Dublin. Our focus is to create the space for meaningful conversations, to build communities that are connected and passionate about what they do, to create energy for your teams to flourish and work together at their best.
We believe in co-design, in collaboration, in listening, which means we cultivate the work we do together with you, we curate the content and shape together, because we know each team, each organisation is unique and you know best what is most important for you.
building connection and energy
We help to create the space for your employees to work together to understand what inspires them, to share their stories, to connect to what really matters and build the space for connection and community. To build the foundations for your team to grow and flourish.
Only 16% of employees are fully engaged at work[1]. That means that 8 out of 10 workers merely show up every day. At a personal level many are struggling to find meaning and purpose[2], at an organisational level burnout stressed out and frazzled organisations without a culture to support it shining can result in high turnover and low engagement.
We work together with you to co-design sessions that connect your employees to what matters to them, to their values, to share them building alignment and connection and creating energy.
beginning with people
The work of corporates today, goes much beyond maximizing profitability for shareholders, indeed many believe the power of corporates today is to deliver value to all their stakeholders – from employees, to partners, shareholders, to society at large. Sustainability depends on something more than numbers, it is about leading consciously, it is about leading with humanity and heart, it is about looking after the wellbeing of people, the organisation and the planet.
And that journey journey begins with people. It begins with those incredible people who work for you being at their best, connecting to what matters to them, things that give them meaning and purpose. And what happens when you do? Not only can you propel your business forward with energy and innovation, with passion and inspiration, you might even find that amazing things can happen.
Leading with head and heart
There is a shift going on, and it is a shift in how we lead. It is a shift to bring together the whole, to lead not just with head but with heart, because when we do, not only does our power to have impact multiply, but we are leading with a noble purpose, a way that speaks to and inspires communities and enables them to shine.
Hubert Joley former CEO of Best Buy and the leader behind an incredible turnaround story (abridged [3]): “A big mistake I made was to have my head cut off from the rest of my body. I thought that leadership was about being smart, about being the smartest person, some kind of superhero. As leaders we need to lead with all our body parts, the head, the heart, the soul “
“It stems from a discussion on why do we work?” …”Is work about a place for meaning, for fulfilment for individuals, is it love made visible?” “And then you need to look at business differently, because what is a company? It is a human organisation, people working together towards a goal.” “So it has to have something to do with doing something good for people, and this is where the heart comes in,. ”
art backed with science
Many will be familiar with the foundational work of Simon Sinek[4] on connecting to your why, your purpose, or the impact of a noble purpose to transform a business such as Best Buy[5], or the bold statements such as those of Black Rock’s CEO Larry Fink not only on climate change but the power of delivering to stakeholders not shareholders. Boston Consulting Group (BCG) are adamant about the power of leading not just with head, but also with heart and head [5].
It is the people in the organization that create the energy that sits behind delivering on those, and what we can help with is connecting your teams in a retreat based way to what is meaningful to them, to building energy and inspiration to propel transformation forward.
And what matters is their work. What matters is creating meaning from that work seeing their dreams connected to a noble purpose. Wellbeing at work is the number one determinant of overall holistic wellbeing [7]
References:
[1]According to the ADP Research Institute
[2] The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership – A new paradigm for sustainable success.Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman and Kaley Warner Klemp. See also: https://conscious.is
[3] Hubert Joley former CEO and Chairman of Best Buy, interview with Arianna Huffington: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65LzS3QrXAQ
[4]Leadership expert Simon Sinek is perhaps best known for giving one of the most popular TED talks of all time – The Golden Circle theory explains how leaders can inspire cooperation, trust and change in a business based on his research into how the most successful organizations think, act and communicate if they start with why. Ted Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action?language=en
[5] BCG the hands heart and head of transformation. https://www.bcg.com/publications/2018/head-heart-hands-transformation
[6]The Heart of Business by Hurbert Joly Former Chairman and CEO of Best Buy.
[7]Wellbeing at work Jim Hartner of Gallup