One of our guiding principles at SBF is encouraging career growth, and sometimes the best way to do that is getting a change of scenery. In October, we took a day at Tampa’s Epicurean Hotel to build up our teams, have a little fun and get to know each other better. Here are the top five takeaways that we’re bringing back to our work now and going forward.
1. Know yourself to find your strengths.
Our keynote speaker, business coach Dr. Robin Lavich, brought great energy teaching us about the art and science of communication. After a self-assessment, we all broke out different-colored glowsticks to self-identify our personal behavioral style. Whether you’re a Motivator, an Investigator, a Nurturer or a Director, you play an important role in getting the job done.
2. Ask the right questions.
Curiosity is one of the best drivers of building relationships, and that goes for every member of SBF, including those at the top. Everyone submitted questions to the firm’s partners through an app called Pigeonhole, with questions ranging from silly to serious. It was a great opportunity to hear from the partners and to see how they interact together.
3. Read the book before book club.
Before our retreat, we all read The Energy Bus, a concise “business fable” that examines how mindset can help influence how we approach our work. It’s full of practical advice on cutting out negative feelings, replacing them with positive thoughts and fueling your life journey with committed people and a can-do outlook. We really liked the opportunity to talk about how the book’s “10 rules” show up at SBF day to day — and where we can grow and improve by incorporating more of its lessons.
4. Embrace your uniqueness.
Sometimes our weird interests and odd strengths can be what propels the team to victory. Whether it was by building towers with marshmallows and popsicle sticks or by going all out on a goofball scavenger hunt, we learned a lot about how to make collaboration fun and celebrating everyone’s most offbeat skills.
5. There’s no team like your team.
After a long day of inspiring talks and playful group activities, we can’t recommend enough taking the chance to relax over a nice dinner together. We really enjoyed dressing up for the Havana Nights theme, which made the casino games and dancing even more fun. It’s important to respect your coworkers for their skills and professionalism, but it’s even better to also like them as people.
We love putting together the retreat every year, and it’s always fantastic to hear how much our employees like it, too. “I love how you mix up the tables so we don’t sit with people you normally talk to,” observed one participant. As another put it, “SBF truly does feel like one big family.” We’re so glad everyone enjoyed themselves, and we can’t wait to close out the holiday season and the year celebrating each other!