Retreat!
Our annual post-retreat musings on the important of shared suffering, competition, and tequila
Chenmark has geographically disparate, decentralized operations. While this structure has many benefits, one downside is that the leadership team rarely spends time together. Since strong interpersonal relationships across companies form the connective tissue that makes Chenmark special, a couple of years ago, we decided to dedicate resources toward bringing the team together for an in-person annual retreat.
For this sort of thing, some companies spend a lot of money going to fancy resorts. Others bring in name-brand speakers to deliver motivational keynotes. Others do trust-based team-building activities.
Over the years, we have dabbled in some of the more traditional approaches to corporate retreats. But we’ve come to question the ROI of many of these check-the-box events. It’s easy to get distracted by big price-tag, flashy activities, and forget the point of why we’re getting together.
We have found that the most formative relationship-building happens in three ways. The first is some sort of shared suffering. The second is friendly yet intense competition. The third is alcohol. Last year, it was cold plunges, intense beach games, and tequila. This year it was camping, blindfolded dodgeball, and rum punch. We already have some ideas for next year.
While the agenda for our annual retreats will evolve, we’re pretty sure these three elements will remain constant. That said, as we write this, we are currently experiencing the acute day-after downsides of rum-based team bonding, so we may have to reconsider that last part…
Have a great week,
Your Chenmark Team
