Taoti Retreat week is a yearly tradition at our agency. It’s the gas to our fire, the cherry to our sundae, the…you get it! It’s kind of a big deal! This is a week where our dreamers, movers, and makers gather to have fun while reconnecting to our agency’s mission: Creating meaningful work and driving impactful results for our clients.
Here at Taoti, we try to practice what we preach. We believe in the power of collaboration. Some of the best work comes from great minds coming together. What a better way to spark collaboration than a week dedicated to learning, growing, team-building and simply put, recharging.
Here are the Top five reasons taotians retreat.
1) It helps us bond!
Whether it was one of our learning sessions dedicated to a specific goal, or our day-long scavenger hunt through the city, our retreat helps foster close-knit teams. And that’s important beyond just company morale. Bonding fosters productivity and creativity. Taking a moment to step away from your workspace is known to boost efficiency.
2) It helps us refresh and refocus.
A 2017 GFK survey conducted mentioned that 78% of managers felt time off improved the focus of their employees; 70% said it renews staff commitment. We couldn’t agree more!
4) It gets us all in the same room.
Taoti has a number of remote developers that aren’t based in the DC office and therefore do not have the same experience when it comes to face to face interaction with their fellow employees. Every year we fly the remote Taotians to DC for this special week-long retreat, this is a chance for everyone to get to know the remote team better and build stronger relationships with them.
3) It allows us time to reflect.
A retreat— with all team members present—is the perfect opportunity to step back and reflect. During our, retreat Taotians reflect on what has worked, what hasn’t, and how to address that discrepancy going forward.
As our CEO Brent Lightner Says:
“Lots of companies talk about being remote or distributed or not–as if there is some right answer to that question. There isn’t. As with most things, variety and moderation tend to do best, which is why Taoti is a bit of all of that. But one thing is for sure: operating as a _team_ is what really counts. The personal relationships are the oil that makes the gears turn, so bringing the team together from all over to foster friendships and build a sense of camaraderie is the secret sauce that makes Taoti thrive.”
It is extremely important that there are strong relationships between employees at Taoti, teamwork is the staple to which we base our work ethic on and having the developers come down to DC from around the world allows us to fortify the team culture that we swear upon.
5) We get to share knowledge, wisdom, and experience.
This year’s retreat week was filled with informative sessions, in which team members shared their knowledge from past experiences, offered advice and tips on how to enhance and hone our skills and educate the rest of the team on their expert subject matter. The sessions were informative but were filled with collaboration and team building activities as well. They covered topics as specific as Web Dev seminars for non-developers to sessions on sharing general past experiences.
Ultimately, Teamwork really does make the dream work.
Retreat week is all about getting all Taotians in one place to build stronger relationships and develop an inspiring work environment. Apart from the sessions, this year’s retreat week featured a team-building activity unlike any other we usually have, Taotians were divided into random teams and put to the test in the ultimate team building activity, “The Taoti Scavenger Hunt”. Teams were issued a list of challenges to complete over the span of the day. This list included challenges that tested our character, teamwork and social skills, helping us achieve the ultimate goal of fostering strong professional relationships and friendships at Taoti!
