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Hear, Pause, Reflect: Taking in the 2018 Manager’s Retreat

“People don’t learn when you tell them stuff… People don’t learn when they do stuff. They learn when they have a moment to reflect on what just happened.”

– Michael Bungay Stanier

Here we are. Over a week out from the 2018 Orange Consulting Manager’s Retreat, and most of the Warehouse is back to the hustle and bustle of our usual business. But I can’t help but still want to sit in the goodness of what took place over the course of those packed 36 hours together. Three brands, nine teams, nearly 50 grown adults running around Downtown Louisville in colored visors. Six sessions, one billion points to be earned, one EPIC trademark dance move from Orange Leaf’s Todd McPherson. It was a great retreat for our company and we are grateful for all who were able to attend and committed to participating fully.

This year’s retreat focused more on inspirational learning than facts, figures, and data, and our hope was that this would launch more opportunities for learning, creativity and asking questions for the hands and feet of our brands… our managers. The goal was to create an atmosphere of peaked interest for how each individual can use their unique leadership abilities to impact not only their team but the sales, customer experiences and growth in their store and their city. We discussed a wide range of topics, spent a good portion of time working in teams and collaborated like the bosses you are. But what now?

Yesterday, I listened to an episode on Donald Miller’s Building a Story Brand podcast with Michael Bungay Stanier. Stanier is the founder and CEO of Box of Crayons, the author of The Coaching Habit and Do More Great Work, among several others. While I highly recommend going to listening to the episode for yourself, here was the main takeaway:

Learning only happens when we allow ourselves to take time and reflect on what just happened.

At the retreat, our teams had the opportunity to both listen and do. We built that time in for you, because we believe it is important. But the key opportunity for learning is up to you.

Today, our operations team will gather together for our bi-monthly meeting to reflect, discuss, and assess last week’s retreat. We’ve each taken the time to sit in the aftermath and process all that happened, from the planning leading up to the event to the actual execution. My encouragement to you, is that you don’t let the return to your cities and stores take up all your mental time and space without setting some time aside to reflect on all that you experienced last week. Put it in your calendar, block the time, get quiet and reflect on what you heard, learned, loved, hated, were challenged by and what inspired you. It’s all meaningful, and it all has the potential to grow you even further as a leader, manager, employee and person.

Weren’t able to join us for this year’s retreat and now feeling a major sense of FOMO? Maybe you just want the chance to revisit everything that was packed into the 36 hour timeframe? Hang tight, friends, as we work to get the video recordings and presentations compiled and up on the web! It’s all coming to the Orange Perspective soon.

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