Deepening Our Sense of Each Other: A Team Retreat Recap
Earlier this month, the Lightward team gathered in Denver for an in-person retreat. The following are reflections on that shared time and space.
Isaac
The greater part of Lightward’s movement is intuitive, instinctive. (It’s in the name: we feel for where the light is, and then we move, lightward.) For intuition to do its work, it needs to be connected, and informed, fed by senses that it can integrate and alchemize into The Right Next Thing.
This very directly is why we do the sync thing. And, on the other side of quarantine, this is why we finally (finally) got everyone together for a Lightward retreat. :) I’m still glowing, and I am not the only one.
The last time we did this was in March of 2020. We were four, then: Jed, Ken, Abe, and me. You might recognize that month as the moment when the pandemic slammed into reality. We were in New Zealand, and got out of the country on one of the last flights before the borders closed.
The two years that followed were what they were. And six times in those two years, we invited someone new to join the Lightward team! Tristan, Matt, Erica, Rebekah, Ian, Alicia! Six times! And those years being what they were, 100% of the time there was someone on the team who hadn’t met everybody in person.
Until May 1, 2022. There were people who hadn’t met anybody in person, and people who were only missing a few connections. We all knew each other (#sync), but it’s special, you know, to share a physical space.
And that was my purpose, in this: to share a space, to be together for a few days of just being present, coexisting and cohabitating, to deepen our sense of ourselves and of each other and of whatever this is that exists between us. I went in with no other objectives. For me, it all comes down to presence, and the energy of each other: and from that rises everything else.
Which means, for me, the best thing I can do is to create a space, and open the door.
Happily, Lightward is not just me, or we would forever remain in a more abstract plane without ever condensing into something to point to and talk about. :D Every human here leads Lightward in their own way, and Abe shares the helm itself with me. In that capacity, Abe structured our retreat week – and his shaping of the week gave us a practical framework for shared aliveness.
Abe
I’ve heard so many friends and colleagues share their experiences coming out of team retreats/conferences. And while many of those experiences were primarily good and encouraging, I have always noticed the pattern of them leaving tired from sitting in meetings all day, or overwhelmed with how much time was spent with other people.
So as I was thinking about the flow of our first-ever team retreat as a team of 10 (EXCITING!!!), I wanted our time together to feel expansive and connected while also feeling productive. Not just a productive work time, but productive in the sense of getting to know each other more, as our team is remote with members reaching across the globe. I didn’t want it to feel like we were squeezing every moment we could to make it more productive; I wanted to set up the retreat week in a way that allowed all of us to leave the retreat feeling energized and excited about the work that we do every day and equally pumped about the connections cultivated in the group.
And that’s what happened! We spent Sunday evening through Thursday afternoon sharing time together, exploring different parts of the business, brainstorming and scheming, dancing, acro yoga-ing, playing games, and enjoying fabulous meals from our long-time friend and talented chef Rebecca Fralick (more on that here!).
Here’s the loose template we used for each day:
Morning
Breakfast was a catered buffet, for anyone who wanted it
Self-care and self-directed mornings: this time was meant for everyone to take care of themselves in whatever way was best for them—whether that was to sleep in, work out, take care of emails, go on a walk, etc.
Afternoon
Lunch! We shared all our meals together. I had one to three table questions that we all took turns answering, allowing everyone to talk about themselves and hear from everyone else. These questions were more intentional ones. Gone are the days of cheesy ice-breaker questions (though they DO have their place in some instances!)
A focused session with the whole team regarding some part of the business (design explorations, show-and-tells from each team, group hike, a growth strategy session, etc).
Evenings
Happy hours, and headshot sessions led by yours truly!
Dinner together
Structured activities ended after dinner, but most people stayed and hung out at the house for the whole evening!
It was a special week. I think strategically thinking about curating and facilitating an event is an important part of making an experience special and impactful. Luckily, I’ve facilitated hundreds of events (including camps and cross-country community service trips), so I was excited to channel all of that experience into our first in-person team retreat, with a team that’s small and close.
Everyone left saying they can’t wait to have a retreat again. We all felt energized going back to our respective homes across the world – energized to continue creating Lightward all that it is, together.
