150 people.

An entire organisation in one room.

The only time in the year when everyone at **Mati Carbon** comes together.

The primary ask was simple:

𝘍𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮-𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮-𝘣𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴.

But the actual challenge was:

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴-𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘺 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘨𝘦𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺?

So alongside energisers, team activities and problem solving exercises, we created space for an open dialogue.

Inspired by the 𝘉𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘈𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘦𝘳 framework, the entire organisation engaged in a cross-functional dialogue – asking questions to each other, voicing expectations and sharing their reality.

It gave teams greater visibility into the constraints of other departments and opened up some new solution ideas.

We also invited participants into a simple visioning exercise for the coming year using oil pastels, drawing sheets and light music.

A 2–3 day annual retreat may not transform an organisation. But it can surely influence its orientation for the year.

It can help people reconnect with the big picture and see their role in shaping it, a principle that is core to our work at TAO.

On a personal note, a theme that has been accompanying me lately is – 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴. How does one hold depth with 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴?

Facilitating this retreat became a creative challenge in that regard.