QuoIntelligence Global Workshop 2023 – What We Liked, Lacked and Learned

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			<div><h2>How does a fully-remote working company approach an in-person all-employee event?</h2></div>
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			<img alt="The QuoIntelligence Team 2023" height="1514" src="https://quointelligence.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/QUOINTELLIGENCE_RIMINI_WORKSHOP-scaled.webp" title="The QuoIntelligence Team in Rimini in 2023" width="2560" />
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			<div><h2>Corporate Retreat: What We Liked, Lacked, and Learned</h2>

Our fully-remote working set-up operates smoothly. But once a year we get together for an intensive agenda of collaborative work and brainstorming sessions — plus some relaxing evenings to enjoy laughter, pasta, and a little dancing under the Italian stars!

Having grown to over 40 people (our team photo cannot be taken indoors anymore!) the energy and enthusiasm were enormous. And led by our visionary CEO Marco Riccardi, we came out of the event more focused and driven than ever.

 

The Essence of QuoIntelligence: Beyond Business it’s About Culture

Every organization possesses a core essence, a driving force behind its vision and a set of principles that nurtures its mission. At QuoIntelligence we deeply embed this essence into our company culture. We firmly believe that providing intelligence solutions goes beyond mere technology and numbers — it revolves around people. It’s not about working together; it’s about growing, evolving and succeeding together.

During one week in September 2023 with the beautiful backdrop of Rimini, Italy, something extraordinary unfolded for us. It wasn’t just another week. Stepping back from our daily work routine and immersing ourselves in the serene seaside, we organized our annual corporate retreat. This retreat symbolizes our unwavering dedication to fostering an resilient company culture.

So what did we like, lack and learn over the week? This is the account of our experiences — celebrating achievements, acknowledging valuable lessons learned, and cherishing the strengthened bonds — all drawn from the team’s feedback. If you run, or work in a fully-remote company, find out what thrilled us, what areas needed improving and — importantly — what insights were gained during this enriching retreat.

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What We Planned

Monday: the team flies in from around the world, checks in, and attends a couple of hours of company presentations with Italian-snack-filled breaks, followed by a company dinner. Some team members had met previously in person, but the team has grown so much recently that there were many new faces.

Tuesday: both the morning and afternoon were filled with company presentations. In the evening, we took the whole company to a surprise event, the Piadina Experience. Here we cooked together guided by the most enthusiastic and authentic Italian nonnas, and enjoyed great local food while getting to know each other better. 

Wednesday: each team runs its own breakout sessions, filled with work and brainstorming, followed by a fun evening at Rimini’s seaside, when some QuoIntelligence team members tried their first Apperol Spritz.

Thursday: QuoIntelligence continued its hard work, with team workshops in the morning and afternoon, and the big evening party which took place at the stunning Collina Dei Poeti winery in the outskirts of Rimini. We were lucky to have two of our customers as guests joining us for this event.

Friday: team workshops continued in the morning, and our last team lunch together. Some colleagues left and others stayed the night with evening activities such as a catamaran sunset experience and a bike tour of Rimini, while our executive team enjoyed a much-deserved visit to San Marino. 

Saturday: we said goodbye and flew home.

Through these activities, we forged deeper bonds within our teams, strengthened our connections with colleagues, and cultivated mutual trust.
			<div><h2>What We Liked</h2>
We contacted all the members of our team to gather their feedback emphasizing how important it is for us to maintain our company culture. At QuoIntelligence we recognize that our strength and achievements are not solely dependent on our services or innovations, but on the atmosphere we cultivate for our employees. We value every individual’s perspective and actively seek their input to create a culture that genuinely connects with each person.
Our internal survey ranked the hotel as 8.86/10 which is not a surprise. The food and service were absolutely spectacular, and the rooms were great. Organization was ranked 8.71 and social activities scored 8.39.
Here are some of the key elements to our successful workshop:
  • Hired a professional organizer: Milana from OnsiteHub and her local partner Daniele were essential to sourcing the venues, suggesting great ideas, and ensuring the travel experience was the smoothest we’ve ever had for our biggest event to date!
  • Used Coda.io as single-source-of-truth and hub for the event. Agenda, transfer info, policies, FAQs, allergy info, tips… all in one. Excellent UX, and mobile-first.
  • Had an active Signal group with all colleagues in it, for urgent and rapid comms.
  • Found great hotels with excellent food, and full board. This is efficient for all as nobody has to worry about finding a local restaurant in a break, but also efficient from a finance team perspective (less expense reports to process for our colleagues).
  • A mix of mandatory and voluntary social activities: the mix is the trick to the success of the social aspect, and each company is different. I’d say we took a step in the right direction.
  • Having some customers around was great: the teams saw in person who uses our product, interacted with them, and the customers got to meet the faces behind our intel.
  • Blocked a couple of days for the teams to get work done: some used it very wisely. For example, a problem was presented on Tuesday to the whole company, and the 3 teams with a dog in the fight sat down in the big room on Wednesday to understand the problem better and aim at solutions.
  • The Hackathon: a revelation! It was a bottom-up idea which resulted in amazing ideas, some of which will be brought into our roadmap.
			<div><h1>What We Lacked</h1>
Our internal survey ranked the balance between structured work and free time as 7.14, and the conference rooms as 7.79. Not bad ratings, but far from the other scores.
General feedback is that the schedule was sometimes too packed, and we felt rushed from one activity to the next. Our team expressed they would have appreciated more free time to relax, mingle with others, or visit the center of town.
Here are the key elements we took away as lacking at our 2023 Workshop:
  • The big room for companywide presentations was set up like a press conference and had a couple of columns in the way. Next year we should source a theatre-configured room with clear visibility.
  • The breakout rooms were OK but perhaps not the most functional.
  • Missed Rimini: A lot of us had no chance to visit the center of town as it was a bit far on foot (25 mins).
  • Fitness: For a company that has Mens Sana In Corpore Sano as a core value, a lot of us missed a gym in the hotel or more “sporty” activities.
  • Celebrating us a bit more: We should have allocated a specific slot to show recognition to colleagues. We run our 2nd year of QuoIntelligence Awards at the evening dinner, but we should have given it more time and recognized a couple more people (like Beatriz!).
  • Time to work: Some teams still did not have enough time to get work done.
  • Structure in some teams’ sessions: some colleagues missed a structured approach to their specific team breakouts.
  • Brainstorm sessions amongst teams, as one colleague put it “they are building common ground to be able to work well in the future”.
			<div><h1>What We Learned</h1>
Overall, 2023’s Workshop was a valuable learning experience for us. We learned that effective team building requires both structured activities and unstructured time to socialize and bond.
The following are our key learnings from this year:
  • A remote location (no pun intended) is better for The Workshop. A city is best for team or department gatherings, which are smaller in attendance and less day allocation.
  • 6 days is too much for most folks. We had already made Saturday voluntary, but we think we need to shed a day in any case. The survey said 40% said 5 days is preferred, 35% said 3 days, and 25% said 6 days.
  • 1.5 days of presentations to the whole company in a top-down format was too much. Most “introduction to my team/area” style presentations should be content that’s presented to new starters at onboarding stage. Other topics could have been done at our town halls that run every 6 weeks. If we bring the whole company into a room to listen to a presentation, it should be about strategy, big announcements, or a q&a with leadership, customers or investors.
  • Monday and Friday should be just “travel and get work done” days. We tried to squeeze in a couple of key presentations on Monday afternoon and a couple of people missed them. This could have been “get work done” blockers, leaving the keynotes for Tuesday.
  • Make all food always included. So, full board for all days. This time we had a couple of lunches and dinners not included which confused some folks and was not so efficient.
  • Local food all day every day for a week was too much for some colleagues. Everyone loved it, and we chose Italy as a destination, but it’s something to consider for next time if we can introduce some diversity.
  • Have blockers to get work done every day. So, don’t block entire days for things like company presentations and activities, allow for some time each day to focus on the work. Otherwise, you may find colleagues with a laptop at lunch or dinner trying to get something urgent done.
  • We need to meet more often. This will be done at department level.
In conclusion, our annual Workshop was a positive experience that helped us to bond as a team, learn new skills, and recharge our batteries. While there were areas for improvement, we appreciate the effort that went into planning and executing the retreat. We are already looking forward to next year’s Workshop!
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    The post QuoIntelligence Global Workshop 2023 – What We Liked, Lacked and Learned appeared first on QuoIntelligence.

    Article Link: https://quointelligence.eu/2023/10/quointelligence-global-workshop-2023/