This Thanksgiving, I am grateful for many things.  My family, my friends, my coworkers and business.  But I also am genuinely thankful for the corporate retreat myself and my coworkers took in October.  This retreat was an invaluable opportunity for us to bond as a team and become more comfortable and collaborative together.

Price Turner CFOs was developed as a virtual company, composed of remote workers.  The company was built with the idea that we should be able to access both our clients and our team from anywhere in the world.  This has worked wonderfully for us, and our team is happy and comfortable working from home.  However, until last month, our whole team had not had the opportunity to be physically present in the same space as each other.  This retreat was the opportunity for us to bond and get to know each other outside of video calls and TEAMS messages.

From October 15th-17th, our team came together in the Philadelphia area.  Price Turner CFOs paid for travel, accommodation, and meals to make sure that everyone had the opportunity to attend this valuable team-building event.  Attendance was not mandatory, but was encouraged, and there was 100% attendance, which was wonderful, because everyone had a great time!

The first full day began with team building and a visit to an apple orchard for some fall festivities.  We went apple picking together.  People noticed and commented that there was immediate synergy within our team.  Erin, one of our team members, had come up with a survey and icebreakers to help us bond.  We brought the apples back to my house to celebrate my birthday!  A couple of people spontaneously began baking.  We made two servings of apple crisp, one with cinnamon, and one without to accommodate allergies.  While people were baking, others were catching up, doing work, and sharing their news and successes.  It was a wonderful change to be able to celebrate those successes together as a team.

The next day consisted of more accounting and business, but we could observe the change in our team and in ourselves.  Because we had spent time together and gotten to know each other, we were more comfortable collaborating and communicating with each other.  We had the leftover apple crisp for breakfast, and though people gravitated towards different things, the organization seemed to form naturally.  No one person was dominating the space as a leader; instead, people were working together comfortably.

After the retreat, people returned to their homes across the country and we returned to remote work, but there has been a change.  People now feel more comfortable reaching out to contact one another.  That’s great for our coworkers to feel comfortable and supported, but it’s also great for business and the quality of our work, because we now know how to use each other as resources and shape ourselves into a more effective team.

In the spirit of gratitude this Thanksgiving, I am very grateful for those who helped make this event happen, including my team and especially Erin, who organized guides and schedules for the team, and Ivy Slater from Slater Success Coaching, who helped organize and run the team-building exercises.  This was truly an invaluable experience for our business, but more importantly, for us as individuals coalescing into a team.