JoycePayne Partners wrapped up our annual all-company retreat a couple weeks ago, and what a great time we all had!  The theme of our retreat this year was communication.  It was a key element to success that came up in our retreat last year, and we thought it was so important that we devoted two days entirely to the topic this year.

 

For part of the retreat, we enjoyed instruction and coaching from Lynn and Trish at Gabriel Communications.  The information they presented about how to hold your body and use your voice and face in speaking was truly interesting and inspiring.  We all learned individual ways to better ourselves and received tips on areas for improvement.

 

For the portion of the retreat we weren’t working with Lynn and Trish, we did some internal exercises designed to jointly determine communication best practices for the firm.  We worked in small groups to brainstorm best practices on topics such as giving feedback, active listening, building consensus and understanding various communication styles.  Then, we had fun sharing our ideas with the whole group.  We were not allowed to tell the group what we had come up with; we were only allowed to illustrate it by acting out scenes.  It was hilarious.  Everyone was laughing.  There were costumes.  And there are pictures:

 

 

As evidenced above, we learned a lot about each other!  We came up with some great solutions to challenges we face, proactively discussed how to better ourselves in some areas, and brainstormed how these practices will improve our work with clients.  We all left each other excited to bring these practices into our everyday lives, both at work and at home.  We hope these improvements will be reflected in our relationships with clients, colleagues and family members.