With Chromatic being a completely distributed team, making time to gather in person is very valuable to us. Chris has written about the benefits of our annual team retreats in the past, but we also try to get our three partners together at least once a year. Our typical days are often filled with the tactical meetings and decisions needed to run an agency, and when we do see each other in person, it is often saturated with conference activities or a client onsite. With that in mind, we try to get together as partners with the explicit purpose of focused time on the longer-term strategy and the future of Chromatic. We strive to not focus on any of the pressing tasks or decisions that need to be made, but on what the next two, three, five, ten years might look like.
2019 Partner Retreat Recap
Earlier this year we put a stake in the ground to go on our retreat midway through the year. We booked flights and lodging for the last week of June. We wanted to go somewhere that we hadn’t been before and experience something unique together, in a place that we’d be able to disconnect from our digital devices. After Mark’s experience at Epicurrence Zion, he suggested that we stay at an Under Canvas location, which helped narrow the options. We quickly decided on Glacier National Park.
Our time was well balanced between outdoor activities and lengthy discussions about technology, business growth, and the future of Chromatic. We spent the first day on the Flathead River fly fishing in the morning and white water rafting in the afternoon and ending the evening with discussions over dinner and s’mores by the fire.
We were lucky to have arrived in Glacier two days after “Going-to-the-Sun Road” opened, so we were able to drive through the length of the park, filled with spectacular views. With temperatures ranging from the 40’s to the high 70’s, and snow on the ground at higher elevations, it was a truly unique landscape. We hiked to Avalanche Lake and Florence Falls, taking in the fresh air, wild spaces, and wildlife – including two moose sightings and nearly crossing paths with a bear on one of our hikes. These times together are powerful bonding experiences and instrumental in how we operate together as business partners.
We didn’t leave the retreat with a ten-step action plan, but together we came home with renewed energy and excitement about what’s next and how to keep our team growing in the ways that are important to us.
