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In February, during our annual “Return to the Mothership,” as I call it, our team gathered to spend three days at an airport hotel in Minnesota. We wanted participants to find a way to go wherever they wanted without having to go outside in the cold Minneapolis winter. There was even a direct public transit connection to the Mall of America for sightseeing, but the site itself wasn’t of much value to everyone.
Since the pandemic, people they were less engaged and more disconnected from their company’s mission and purpose. A robust workplace culture can create healthier, happier and more productive individuals who stay with your organization and increase profits. However, as leaders embrace greater remote and hybrid flexibility, this culture becomes harder to achieve.
Regular in-person meetings help us bridge this gap in our largely hybrid company. We spend a lot of money on our annual event, but the boost of culture and energy we get in return is all the time price the investment. Instead of considering the cost of conducting these personal experiences, I evaluate whether I have extracted as much value from them as possible. Here’s what I think:
Do what is digitally unimaginable
Design personal activities that may only be done in person. Instead of presenting products on a screen, we put products into people’s hands. Instead of speakers in large lecture halls that could possibly be viewed via Zoom, we are renting multiple small rooms for round-robin exchanges between small groups. Personal training should go beyond skill development to ensure alignment with the leader’s vision, direction and path. At the heart of every activity is to consider all the possible ways it could actually drive and mix culture.
Even lunch will be a bargain. Encourage team members to meet colleagues they would not normally socialize with. Gallup the data has long been connected Having close friends at work translates into greater engagement, a stronger culture, and greater profitability. These are business effects that have turn out to be much more visible since the pandemic. Some experts estimate a high degree of belonging among employees can save a company’s 10,000 employees $52 million a 12 months. An effective way to build a sense of community will be to use any advantages to promote meaningful personal connections.
Consider everyone in the room
Plan activities with the needs of all participating groups in mind. Most of our salespeople work remotely and might have more support to feel connected. Instead of keeping them apart, we plan their time with others, taking into account common needs. We held one large group sales training session, but we restructured the conversation to include non-sales people. By helping accountants higher understand the goals of those requesting a commission review, they will more easily build relationships and improve collaboration between departments.
What people expect from in-person meetings may vary, so ask. When our company was smaller, we knew each other’s spouses and families and often included them in team meetings. Today, our employees are larger, younger and less focused on marital or family events. Compared to an in-person meeting for 200 employees, a party for 400 people, including spouses, is much dearer. By asking what my team members want, I can determine whether this extra cost is needed or whether a $100 gift certificate to show my spouse’s support can be more appreciated.
Time is every part
We normally held our annual meeting in October, at the starting of our fiscal 12 months, but last 12 months we were in a transition period and were unable to focus on this event. So we waited until February, but cancellation fees cost us an additional 20-25% of the total event value. Still, if we covered the entire cost and called everyone into the field without being willing to offer them an event price attending, the negative energy in response can be much more devastating.
As it turns out, rescheduling the event energized us, leading to our busiest time of 12 months and maximizing our annual opportunities. To help maintain this increased energy, we also encourage smaller gatherings throughout the 12 months as needed. Our regional sales teams meet several times a 12 months, while our internal sales group prefers to meet quarterly. Schedule in-person events with enough frequency to maintain the energy from one meeting to the next, and when delays occur, adding one other one will be a invaluable investment.
Continue and improve
Asking for feedback ensures that efforts to meet people in person shall be most effective. Our management team monitors the event at all times signs of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. We also ask people to share what they liked most after the event. We will send out a formal survey next week asking for your feedback on each part of the program, including aspects corresponding to environment, hotel and event dates. Finally, we discussed our notes as a planning committee to adjust and improve for the next 12 months.
This 12 months we tried to help people alleviate conflicts between programs and their every day work. Instead of blocking out one other quarter-hour of unallocated free time, we created intentional breaks in the day dedicated to work. We also asked people to prioritize work time and free themselves from distractions for the rest of the day. Be direct when asking for worker buy-in and start the meeting early, well before the meeting starts. By encouraging people to focus on a particular environment, we higher be sure that they are going to profit from it as much as we do.
Despite a mild winter, we were lucky this 12 months and it snowed – picture perfect. We had participants from throughout the country and beyond, including our Mexican production team who had never seen snow. We all loved watching them step on the ground for the first time to make snow angels – a moment I could never have planned and will probably never find a way to recreate. As long as we set the stage to maximize authentic connections, some of the most meaningful interactions occur when we simply sit back and allow them to.