Golden Spiral: Refreshed and Eager to Serve You
Who is the team at Golden Spiral?
We are a hard-working, fun-loving bunch of professionals from a variety of backgrounds assembled together to serve B2B tech companies as an integrated whole.
Retreat
Once a year, we get away for two work days to recharge our batteries as a whole and re-dedicate ourselves to our vision and values.
It wasn’t all fun and relaxation. Roughly half of the retreat was designed to press us into relationship with each other, putting team members who don’t always work side by side into situations to cross-train and solve problems.
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Metaphors for Our Daily Work
We participated in a low ropes course as a means of problem solving and team building in a completely different setting than our office.
In one activity, we started out standing side-by-side on a pole that was laying on the ground and then had to re-arrange ourselves in ascending birthday order without stepping off. In one long line, we weren’t able to hear each other as well as we could in a circle. Our CEO John made a suggestion first. Then another team member built on his suggestion. In many environments, the CEO of an organization could feel threatened or disrespected, but we all saw the wisdom of the suggestion from another perspective and put it into use.
It wasn’t easy to move everyone around on the pole, but within 15 minutes, we were in the correct order. Then, our facilitator encouraged us to make some observations. It turns out that this exercise is a great metaphor for our work processes.
- It’s harder to communicate to someone in another part of the straight line.
- If someone learns a great way to do something in the middle of the process, that person needs to communicate the “best practice” up and down stream.
- We all see different parts of the process and the project, and we should all listen to each other without ego for the sake of the entire process — and the next project.
- We need to think creatively because sometimes our process isn’t the best solution for what we’re facing. Small deviations might make us faster, stronger, and better.
Another exercise became a metaphor for working with limited resources. We had to get our entire team on two small platforms, and each person had to get to the platforms via a rope swing. Those who went first held on to each other and were able to catch the remaining people as they swung over.
It was a great example of how to work together to complete a task successfully.
Later that night around the fire, we discussed these experiences — and how to work even better together.
We also took risks with an adventure tour, a zip line, and a giant swing. Some of us are naturally more adventure-prone than others, but many team members overcame past fears to try something new. Yes, yet another metaphor for our work.
We work the same way in the office — individuals with different strengths come together for a singular purpose, trying new things, taking risks, and relying on each other. It’s what we love about being an integrated marketing company.
Taking Our Own Medicine
We put in many hours of thoughtful work for our business, including walking through many of the same exercises we facilitate with our clients to discover strengths, opportunities, problems, and successes. We were assigned to teams with those we don’t work closely with every day to hear other perspectives and points of view. We refreshed our own buyer matrixSM and, in the process, sparked healthy debate. We’re growing and newer voices pressed in. We learned from each other.
Key Takeaway
Our team came back refreshed, renewed, in stronger and closer relationships with each other, and with a new appreciation for one another.
We’re also ready to apply what we learned on the retreat to our client work. How can we work together for you? What adventure do you need us to tackle with you? We look forward to meeting you and making your goal a reality.
