One of the most important assets of your company is the employees. It is important that you acknowledge them. Employees are the core and the soul of a company. Their souls should be well taken care of. Providing a pleasant, stress-free, and safe working environment is essential for successful and smooth operations. But, there is much more to the well-being of an employee than the care provided for them in the workplace.
Treat your employees with a corporate retreat at Blue Osa
To maximize operation, employees need to value each employee as an individual. Allow them find a way to grow as a team.
Team building days and corporate retreats are a great way for employees to get to know each other and network across the organization. Corporate retreats allow the employees to leave their daily routine so that they can take a look at the organizational operation as a whole, and thus, and take on a wider, more accurate perspective of the role their own job plays.
In a relaxed environment, where the job titles are taken away, employees can build trust with each other. As these internal bonds are strengthened, the entire company will benefit as newly inspired employees have a renewed passion for their role within the larger organization.
If you are looking to build your management team, corporate retreats are a great way to find hidden talents among the team, as well as, build employee commitment and motivate your team for better performance. By investing in your employees, you will invest in the most important capital of your company, the human capital–the soul of the company.
Entrepreneur, a go-to source for business inspiration, talks highly of the importance of corporate retreats.
By offering the employees a vacation-like retreat, you can infuse fun into the workplace! Following the retreat employees will return to their normal routines relaxed and enthused.
Blue Osa Employee Retreat
Blue Osa recently hosted a wonderful corporate retreat for their own employees in December 2015.
“We value all our employees at Blue Osa. Each of them contributes so much to each guest who retreats with us. All our employees live on the Osa Peninsula; they grew up here and most of them have never left the Osa before.” –Yogi Aaron revealing a little bit about the corporate structure of Blue Osa.
Currently, Blue Osa employs 16 people full time. This includes management, kitchen, garden, cleaning, and maintenance staff. Also, Blue Osa is also host to volunteers. They offer their times as yoga teachers, bloggers, social media interns, and videography interns.
Employees Are The Soul Of Blue Osa
Time and time again, guests have complimented how amazing the staff and employees of Blue Osa are. The love and effort they offer to each guest and work task is what makes the Blue Osa customer experience.
“We wanted our employees to know what it was like to walk in our guests shoes for one day. It was for this reason, we had the employee retreat. We strive to give each of them experiences that our guests might have.” Yogi Aaron explains.
“We created a full program of activities. The retreat included wine tasting, a gourmet meal prepared by Chef Anne Marie Cantelaube, and a yoga class with Lau Castro.”
A highlight for this retreat was a program presented by external partner Isaac Garcia. The program was a 3-part workshop on communication. During this time, each employee was able to listen to their fellow team members. Real listening leads to greater understanding.” Yogi Aaron continues.
Invest into employees, the most important asset of your company
In any workplace, the working environment and atmosphere are important. At Blue Osa, creating a tranquil working environment is, even more, essential. To have the employees reflect the serenity and peace in their environment goes a long way.
“Many of the Blue Osa employees have never been as a guest in yoga resort. Providing our employees with this experience helps them to understand their work better. A retreat helps them to understand why we do things the way we do,” Yogi Aaron explains.
“By participating in a retreat at Blue Osa, our employees changed their perception of why a yoga retreat here looks the way it does. For example, they gained a better understanding of why the customers are so hungry after yoga,” -Michael Melendez, Blue Osa Manager
Employees Experience: What It’s Like To Be On The Other Side
The theme of the retreat was communication and heart-center listening. Both of which are essential in our everyday life, not only with our families and co-workers but especially with customers. In customer service, we need to be mindful of the way we communicate.
“In our session, we discussed the content of our message. We discussed how our feelings and attitude affect the message as we communicate it. And what does our body language reveals as we communicate!” explains Isaac Garcia, Managing Director of Latitudes, and a facilitator of the Blue Osa employee event.
Isaac is familiar with Blue Osa staff from previous projects. There was already a trust bond between the management and the facilitator. Isaac is one of the owners of Latitudes with is a travel agency with destination traveling in Costa Rica. He also leads corporate retreats. Isaac holds a Master Degree in Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica in California. He leads his organization with heart centered communication in mind.
“With the theme being the art of human communication, we did a practice of mindful communication where the attention was placed on these important elements: – talking to a soul – having compassion – seeing the loving essence – being present in the conversation
Mindful Conversation
To give an example, one of the practices included splitting up into groups of three, as each employee acted out a role of either the listener, the talker, or the observer. We asked each employee to talk about work related issues and then reflect as a group.
“Opening up communication builds trust. The more you share, the more bonding takes place, the more we trust each other, and the more we feel secure. These emotions and feelings will carry into the work environment,” states Isaac.
“As the goal of the retreat was better communication, understanding the dimensions of communication was an important foundational skill to discuss. During the next session, we moved up a notch and challenged the employees to find the divine within them–to see the loving essence within them and communicate through their soul. We talked about the importance of the spirit and the soul, and how important it is to see ourselves through the eyes of love. The purpose of the loving essence is to learn mutual respect for each other, as two souls communicate. When we can open our hearts to ourselves, we can open our hearts to others as well,” Isaac explained.
“The exercise of the second day was simply to see the soul in front of you, not only the face and the body, stressing the importance of eye contact as the window to a soul. The challenge was to listen with no judgment and awaken the divine within you”, Isaac concluded.
“After the small group work, we did a group reflection. We found that what the employees valued the most in the exercises was seeing their colleagues with compassion,” stated Michael.
“This exercise helped our employees see how small things, such as showing compassion and seeing the soul of the customer, may change the course of conversation. We work in a sort of sanctuary, where guests come for different reasons, such as, healing or re-establishing themselves. This makes it especially important to see vulnerability in other people,” Michael continues.
Homework: My ideal Scene
The employees were also given the task of taking home daily work. The task was to write about their ideal scene at work and capture the way they want to feel in all aspects of their job’s role using the following focus points: – their performance – their goals – their relationships – their clients – their employees – their responsibilities – their career growth – their routines We wanted them to focus on being open to surrender, able to adapt, and always adding or taking away parts of their ideal scene.
Our Blue Osa Family
The retreat ended with each employee expressing their gratitude. Their hearts were open, and eyes filled with joyful tears.
“We will never forget this moment in history at Blue Osa,” Yogi Aaron concluded, remarking the success of the retreat. “We will make this an annual event for us”
We love the Blue Osa Team and want to always express our gratitude to them.
Get to know the Team:
Main Gerdener & Tour Guide: Fillo
Blue Osa – Destination for Employee Retreats
As a yoga retreat center, Blue Osa is the perfect place to host a small corporate retreat or team building event. We offer a tranquil, natural environment to disconnect and reconnect, and to be one with nature. As you know, spending time in nature improves the performance of employees and helps them fully relax. Get inspired by nature!
Blue Osa is a perfect getaway for your team-building or training event. We are remote, so when people come here, they can focus on the task at hand, and be in this present moment. We offer various adventures and tours around us, and our property is flexible for various types of activities and team building exercises. The yoga Shala can be used for exercise or for training; discussion or workshops. We also have a projector and an audio system available. Yet, one should bear in mind that we are an eco retreat center with limited wifi, which is a good way to get people off their phones and be present in what they are supposed to be present with. Learn more about the incredible Blue Osa Retreat Center, located in Costa Rica.
With the right location, theme and ambition, corporate retreats are a powerful tool to get your team working towards a shared goal. Motivate your employees to commit to shared goals and build team spirit.
Have you hosted a corporate retreat before? What benefits did you notice in your company? Share your stories in the comments below!
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About The Author
Inka means literally “The Child of Sun”. This radiant world traveler from Finland is in her thirties has explored in 55 countries and lived in USA, Latvia and China. For the past decade, Inka has been working in the Global Mining Industry as Marketing Manager, promoting a sustainable technology solution for the world’s metal producers and process industries. While working in China, she truly discovered Yoga and completed her Yoga Teachers Training. Inka is on her amazing adventure through Americas for 3 months which of one-month volunteering in Blue Osa. Her Mantra is: “The Universe is my Home – my yoga mat my temple. We have one life – so live it well. Choose to be happy”. Follow her adventures and take a peek into her photographic memory in Instagram ituononen, #VirtaavaValonVoima.
