Strengthen Your Team: How Our Retreats Build Community and Belonging Amongst Staff

People want to feel a sense of belonging and connection. Dr. john a. powell, Director of the Othering & Belonging Institute, states: “The human condition is one about belonging. We simply cannot thrive unless we are in relationship.” In today’s shifting workforce, people are no longer just looking at the vision and mission of an organization, but also desire a work environment that reflects their values and promotes a sense of belonging. It’s more important than ever for companies to foster a sense of community and belonging amongst their staff.

One effective way to achieve this is through retreats that bring team members together in a relaxed and collaborative environment. At Novalia Collective, we have been building out the foundations for meaningful retreats and specialize in facilitating retreats that help companies strengthen their teams and create a sense of community and belonging amongst staff. In this blog post, we’ll highlight three past retreats that we facilitated and the impact they had on the organizations we worked with.

Small groups discussing their professional journey maps

Coalescing on Mission, Vision, and Values

Over the course of two retreats (6 months apart), we worked with a non-profit organization that was struggling to coalesce around a shared mission and vision. Through team-building exercises, group discussions, and visioning activities, we helped staff clarify their purpose and align their work towards a shared goal. One activity asked staff to draw a map of their professional journeys that led them to working at the organization, including their challenges and victories. This deepened staff understanding of the driving factors in the lives of one another, and seeing similarities across individual journeys helped bring them together around a shared mission, vision, and values. By the end of the retreats, team members felt more connected to each other and to the organization’s mission, resulting in increased motivation and productivity.

Discussing with the team the role of belonging in building strong communities.

Building a Culture of Belonging

For this retreat, we worked with a specific team at an organization that was looking to deepen their understanding of what it means to have a culture of belonging both internally and with their external partners. Through facilitated discussions, group activities, and mindfulness exercises, we helped team members explore their own experiences and relationships with belonging. Storytelling was a critical component of the retreat, as team members spent time sharing their experiences with one another that helped deepen understanding of the importance of inclusivity in the workplace. By the end of the retreat, the team members felt more connected to each other and committed to creating a more inclusive and equitable culture at their organization.

Honoring Staff Experiences and Navigating Challenges

In this retreat, we worked with an organization’s staff who were feeling overwhelmed and disconnected due to the challenges of the pandemic. Through activities focused on shared experiences, self-care, and mindfulness, we helped team members feel seen and heard in their experiences, and develop strategies for coming together during difficult times. In balancing generative and joyful activities with reflections on hardships, we were able to ensure that staff moved through conversations with an eye toward a collective future. By the end of the retreat, team members felt more supported and connected to each other, resulting in increased resilience and a greater sense of community.

Retreats are a powerful tool for companies to strengthen their teams and foster a sense of community and belonging amongst their staff. The three retreats we highlighted in this blog post demonstrate the impact that retreats can have on organizations, from clarifying mission and vision, to deepening understanding of culture and inclusivity, to supporting staff through difficult times. If you’re interested in learning more about how you can partner with us to plan an impactful retreat, contact us today!