Spring Retreat

Date: 21st and 22nd October 2011
Venue: "South Shores"
Attendees: Deadline team
Chaired by: Sean Heylen

Leading the Way in Lady Bay

On Friday 21st October, the Deadline team drove to a secluded seaside destination in Lady Bay, Normanville. We officially began "retreating" at 11am with the kick-off meeting. As a team, we first had to establish Ground Rules, eradicate any ‘pink elephants in the room’, and personally document our own ‘great expectations’ for the next two days.

In order to discover more about each other, the next exercise was to share "10 things about You". Prior to the weekend, we were asked to bring along 10 items that represent "you" in a bag – no bigger than the shopping variety. Some of us were hesitant at first, but soon warmed up to talking about family, hobbies, passions, culture and more. Others loved being in the limelight, pulling out retro board shorts, favourite romantic comedies, and geek-inspired shoes.

An afternoon game on the nearby "Links Lady Bay" golf course was followed by a lengthy dinner at the Victory Hotel, Sellicks Beach with its sweeping views over the hills and sea. This was a great chance to talk about things other than websites, software, and Facebook; not that we don’t love all of these things! In the cellar we enjoyed wonderful dishes and admired the walls of beautiful wines from South Australia and afar. With some already prepared open-ended questions brought to the table, including "If you could describe your life in the form of an animal, which animal would you be"… there was no shortage of laughter and flowing conversation.

Saturday was the official day for constructing our strategic plan for the next 90 days, which began with seemingly obscure team building exercises (involving ropes and blindfolds). This was followed by a review of Deadline’s Business Architecture Stack; an evaluation of the business’s potential dangers, opportunities and threats; and an exercise to convert dangers into opportunities.

A significant part of day-two also involved Sean sharing the Amsterdam Entrepreneurs’ Organisation Manifesto for Change, recently developed by more than 500 of the world's leading entrepreneurs at the EO University Conference in Amsterdam. To read the Manifesto click here.

"One of the scariest things about having power is working out how to use it effectively. As entrepreneurs we recognise and embrace our obligation to make a positive difference for world change. But, I need the commitment and help of all of you to make this idea a reality", Sean says.

Sean read aloud the Manifesto and then put it into clear context saying, "With every 6 seconds another innocent child in Africa dies of hunger…" Emotions built in the room and the team felt a strong connectedness to each other and to the world change project at hand. More details of our actions in contributing to changing the world will be revealed in early 2012. We are working on it right now and need the help and support of all of you as well.

The key outcome of the two days was a road map with much to achieve and tasks that will contribute to improving Deadline's business processes and efficiency, but also to giving something back.  I asked team members for one word that describes their retreat experience and the responses were: inspirational, unity, change, impelling, mammoth, connecting, and revolutionary.

Checkout the photos on Facebook!

E Clark, 29 November 2011