Once a year our team shuts down client operations and ventures away from the day to day, into the mountains for this little thing we call Vision Quest. A company retreat complete with all the bonding, learning, and team building you’d expect, minus all the cheesy trust falls and rope swings (although this year did come with pontoons and bb guns).
This year the theme we carried into Vision Quest and reiterated throughout was Growth. Growth means a lot of different things to us — personal growth, professional growth, financial growth, creative growth. Through improvements to our processes, the way we communicate, the way we collaborate, and the way we market ourselves, we came together to have honest dialogue about what we’re doing well and what we can be doing much, much better, smarter, or more creatively.
For us, it’s important to always keep in mind that while we design and develop and write and think about beautiful brands, we’re really in the business of making things possible. What we do helps others do what they do better. It’s through our creativity, thoughtfulness, strategic ingenuity, and care that we’re able to transform individual perspectives in a way that adds to the bottom line for our clients, increases support, and creates awareness.
Where we go and what we’re able to do for each other and our clients is up to us. We focused throughout Vision Quest on reinforcing a “yes, and…” mentality (to an almost annoying, you-forgot-to-say “yes, and”, throw a dollar in the jar level). Using the example of comedy improv or jazz, the idea of “yes, and” is that all ideas are welcome, and ideas are always added to and developed over time.
We don’t shoot ideas down. We don’t stop. We’re not quick to say no. We’re open-minded and welcoming of thoughts, internally, and with the people we work with. This idea alone lies at the core of what positive growth looks like for us in the year ahead of us. It’s what we’re focused on — together.
Together is how we meet our goals, how we get stronger, and do our best work. Together is how we grow.
We went away for a few days of rest, relaxation, and rejuvenation, and we brought back thoughts and ideas to build on as we continue to grow and step into our 10th year as a company. We can’t wait to see where we’ll be around this time next year. I would say hopefully in a place with less political drama, but you know as well as I do that’s nothing but wishful thinking.
Check out the video below for some ‘Quest highlights.