Reflections on the Banana Life Values Retreat 2020

BananaJam2020

During the last week of January 2020 we, the Banana Life Team (Andy, Amanda, Mike, James and Vid), locked ourselves in a room for 16 hours and put our money where our mouth was. We did a two day intensive “retreat” where we decided to hone, carve, build, grow, learn, and create the values that our brand stands for.

Andy led the charge as we engaged in creative exercises designed to get us thinking about what it was we actually stand for here at Banana Life. Things moved pretty fast last year and we found ourselves often working to deadlines, and running out the door to deliver our events. We only had crumbs of time and energy to be able to spend on honing in on the values, vision, and mission of the company. Our retreat last week was designed to catch us up, now that we are looking at a busy 2020.

By the end of the two days its safe to say that we all left the room with a sense that we were on the right track, and now had a map to guide us forward.

Vision

We wrote a vision statement. With Andy at the helm we were encouraged to brainstorm our way to a succinct vision statement. The idea is that when all else fails, we are trying to achieve this one vision. The statement we landed on was that we want to:

“Make every workplace an appealing place to work.”

We all felt this statement represent our purpose, what we wanted to achieve, and kept the playful sense of humour that forms the front face of our brand.

Values

From the vision came our values. Using merely a wall, some post it notes, and some permanent markers, we spent a lot of time writing down what we valued about what Banana Life can offer the world. It must be said that while this work is creatively inspiring it is still work and was the real test of our ability to work as a team.

With a lot of team building training the writing is already on the wall, so to speak, so you know that the exercise, or game, has a beginning, a middle, and an end. At the end of the exercise you can choose whether you want to implement the learning or not. But when it comes to making decisions that are going to influence the trajectory of the company the stakes are real. It becomes evident that trust, communication, understanding, support, and direction are essential.

I’ll tell you the values that we landed on in a moment but I think its interesting to note the values that emerge as a by product of teamwork are also the ones that find their way into the values that represent the company (wow what a surprise).

Listening

Being heard feels better than being loud. When it comes to creating, and making change, it is very tempting to have your idea be the one that has the greatest impact. But acting to achieve this goal can quickly kill the mood. Listening, on the other hand, allows people to feel heard. And sometimes feeling heard is more important than being loud.

Encouragement

A joy shared is a joy doubled, as the saying goes. And this applies to encouragement and support. When you support and encourage ideas then you fuel the creative fire that the group is burning on. Encouragement creates a safe space for people to express their ideas. Not all will land, not all will be effective, but it is much better to have too many than not enough.

Communication

Select with empathy. Creating together is going to generate a lot of material so it is important that there is a process in which the ideas that are useful, inspiring, on brand, and relevant are selected from the material that is not. If you have created a safe space to generate ideas with encouragement then empathic communication is where you maintain that safe space while being selective. We all know that not all of our ideas are perfect, but we don’t want them to be thrown away. Empathic communication can be as simple as saying “I like X about your idea, but I think we should explore Y.”

Humour

Humour in a team cannot be understated. Laughter in a group signifies many things. A group who can laugh at, with, and around each other are a group who feel safe, trusted, and supported. We take the work seriously, but we take enjoying the process itself even seriously-er. A lot of the above values were built on playful banter, joking around, friendly riffing, and fun. It was FUN to be doing the work not just because we were creating positive change but because we enjoyed each others’ company.

The End Result

After two days of creating, meditating, random pushup moments, and (unbelievably) an actual trust fall, we came up with 5 key values that both represent our individual approach AND the company as a whole. They are

Continuous Improvement

We’re committed to always looking for ways to be at our best.

Be Prepared, Be Organised

We know our shit, and we’re ready for anything.

Inclusivity

Every human is equal. No one skill is more important than ensuring everybody feels included and welcome.

Aspire To Inspire

We create safe space, and lead through actions not words. 

We’re a Little Bit Bananas

We’re a little eccentric, and like to create playful moments.  We’re all different, and that’s what makes us an awesome bunch

Interact Authentically

We aim to peel back the layers of judgement and expectations. We’re genuine, trustworthy and value authenticity in all interactions.

TL;DR

After a two day team values training retreat we emerged a closer team with a clearer idea of our vision, mission, and company values. We had some laughs along the way and are now a little bit more bananas, and definitely more of a bunch.