Background
Current Business Retreats
Are you familiar with business retreats? These are intensive study camps or employee trips with a focus on relaxation, organized for companies operating primarily in a near-full remote work mode. Typically held about once every six months, they target companies that allow remote work, especially tech companies.
The specific way a retreat is conducted varies from organization to organization, but one common aspect is that members must always spend time together. Usually, some curriculum is planned, and everyone gathers in a room for workshops, or even during free time, there is pressure to interact, converse, and engage in discussions with other members.
Certainly, such an environment allows for refreshing, temporarily disconnecting from work, and deepening relationships with colleagues, but that's about it.
The Lack of Thorough Reflection on "The Hard" for Engineers
Here, "the hard" refers to our capacities and qualities as humans. As human beings, engineers must engage in activities that are essential for humanity. Specifically, this involves contemplating, discussing, and adjusting both organizational and individual roles.
Usually, the task of managing organizations is entrusted to engineering managers, but their strategies and measures often don't quite resonate as they are primarily detached from on-the-ground realities. While we deeply appreciate their efforts, mere one-on-one sessions do not suffice. Candid and honest feedback from engineers actively using their hands, feet, and brains is required. Regarding individuals, there's no need to say that career maintenance is a daily necessity.
So, here's the question: When on earth should this be done? Of course, daily work keeps us busy, and we want to enjoy our private lives. Yes, there really isn't time for it.
Using Retreats for Hard Maintenance
Here's where retreats come in handy.
You can engage in deep reflection during a retreat. Since a retreat is an event organized by the company and is part of your work, you can dedicate ample time to it. Of course, it is ultimately the responsibility of the organization's leaders to secure sufficient resources.
Nonetheless, here's a big problem: the traditional retreats, as mentioned earlier, are not very useful (in the sense of hard maintenance). For effective maintenance, one must approach the retreat with respect for its original intent. This article attempts to shed light on this complex notion.
Reviving the True Essence of Retreats
Originally, a retreat implies meanings such as "withdrawal," "evacuation," and "retirement." In religious contexts, it refers to practices like visiting temples or secluding oneself in the mountains for training.
The essence here lies in solitary quietude. Solitude is a prerequisite. While nurturing relationships with colleagues is important, a retreat transcends such petty activities. Furthermore, there must be silence, meaning a complete detachment from work and personal affairs. For instance, there should be no interruptions and certainly no camp-like or travel-like curricula. The value of a retreat lies in obtaining these two rarely accessible aspects.
True Retreat
A True Retreat refers to an employee event for obtaining solitary quietude.
It involves an overnight stay, ideally spanning at least two to three nights or more.
In this event, there are no obligations. Unlike traditional retreats, there is no curriculum imposed, and you don't have to exert yourself in unwanted activities or interactions. Of course, individuals are free to engage as they wish, but there is no compulsion, and indeed, it's discouraged. So, what do you do? You simply relax alone. Moreover, you engage in solitary introspection. You contemplate your work, your organization, and your life. There are no specific means required. You can bring a work PC to write or use your private PC. In essence, you relax in solitude.
"Then wouldn't it be sufficient to just offer vacation time and travel expenses?"
You might think that way, but it's different.
A true retreat imposes solitary quietude on all members. Therefore, it involves including all target members as part of the event.
Sharing Retreat Experiences
What you do during a true retreat must be shared.
There is no right way to do this, but the timing can be categorized into three stages.
- 1: During the true retreat (referred to as checkpoints)
- 2: On the final day
- 3: As soon as possible after completing the true retreat
To fully respect a true retreat, timing your reflections at stage 3: post-event is sufficient.
However, typically, after spending several days in solitude, one might become "bored" or "overwhelmed," leading to stagnation, so checkpoints are recommended. Nevertheless, having checkpoints means gathering requires extra effort. Personally, such gatherings aren't my preference. They evoke even murderous intent. However, as a Knowledge Architect, I understand that checkpoints make it a more realistic endeavor, hence this explanation.
As a compromise, you can prepare a note, wiki, or channel for asynchronous sharing. The risk here is that, similar to Twitter or other SNS, you might get caught up sifting through everyone's posts. During a true retreat, you want solitude, yet you find yourself drowning in information.
Recommended: "Implementing Sharing Timings"
I recommend restricting when you can share your reflections. For instance, if conducting a 3-night, 4-day retreat and you want to share once a day from 12:00 to 13:30, you can implement the following:
- A reminder to announce when sharing time begins, a little before 12:00.
- A shared area, whether a note, wiki, or channel, open to all for reading and writing.
- Ensure the shared area is readable only during 12:00-13:30 or at least prohibit "writing" after the time lapses.
Note the term implementation. This necessity prompts my belief that a true retreat is challenging without an engineering team or at least one software engineer capable of swiftly arranging such implementations.
The insistence on implementation arises from the fact that compromises are not allowed in true retreats. Activities such as endlessly viewing SNS or mindlessly engaging with shared content or members are unacceptable. True feelings emerge only when faced in solitude, thus necessitating rigidly upheld systems built via software.
Conclusion
Engineers, caught up in technical busyness, tend to delay considerations of organizational roles and personal careers. This is where retreats come into play, offering a work-based, yet relaxed opportunity to think concentratedly and deeply.
Naturally, engineers are not slaves. They are human beings. As such, they harbor individual thoughts and feelings. It's easy to lose sight of this while being preoccupied with engineering, especially in a full remote context. True retreats serve to clear up these mid- to long-term issues. I encourage you to give it a try.
Until next time.
Top comments (0)