The CES Bound road trip team in 2010. I’m the one on the left (I look like a baby). Photo from Griffin Technology.
You have to acknowledge there is life outside the walls of your organization. I know, you understand this, but most people during the day-to-day forget. We are focused on prospecting and client work that we often neglect considering what’s beyond those walls.
I want to teach you the true value of embracing life outside your walls. Doing so will lead to happier and more connected employees. This will improve retention and save you money on recruiting and retraining your team members when they quit.
This particular story hits three of the most important pieces of life outside your walls. You have to have internal aspects, external aspects, and trust.
In 2010, I proposed an idea to gather a few fellow team members at Griffin Technology and embark on a road trip. The plan evolved into a major undertaking that involved rebuilding a 1972 VW Westfalia after hours, driving it 2,500 miles from Nashville to Las Vegas, organizing meet-ups with our customers, and parking ‘Double Nickles’ in our booth at CES (the largest consumer electronics show in the world).
Life Outside Your Walls
Trust
Let’s begin with trust. Without the consent of the leadership team at Griffin the trip, affectionately known as CES Bound, would not have taken place. People who work in companies that do the best job creating a culture of trust, compared to those in companies that are the worst at it, are 50% more productive, 76% more engaged, and have more than double the energy, according to research led by Paul Zak, director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies at Claremont Graduate University. Trust matters.
Externally
Allowing your team members the freedom to leave the office to attend conferences and tradeshows can be incredibly rewarding. They learn new skills and build relationships with future clients or customers, employees, and strategic partners.
The CES Bound trip was a six-day journey of getting to know my colleagues better. Lifelong friendships and brand loyalty were established.
Internally
The staff at Griffin eagerly volunteered their time to rebuild an immobile classic VW bus after hours. The team also organized meetups, promotional partnerships, media coverage, and 2,5000 miles worth of content for social media and promotional usage like this road trip tips guide we made.
What happened?
The outcomes of this initiative were:
“This is a nice example of how the creativity of people who have a vested interest in an organization can be harnessed in completely novel ways.
What this tells me is that Griffin listens to its innovative talent instead of ignoring their disruptive actions. This is really necessary for an organization that has to remain nimble and resilient in an industry that changes daily. Being able to leverage its own internal creativity increases the chance that Griffin will continue to be successful.”
We had a team of connected people with unparalleled trust in the company.
We had a team that was more cohesive than ever and it actually led our work within those walls to be even better.
We had tons of content like photos and videos that helped promote our company culture and products.
We welcomed countless media professionals and buyers to our booth at CES who wanted to learn about our new products and have their photos made with the bus.
We received media coverage from technology and business reporters.
I’m not telling you to go on a road trip, but you have to get this right and do these things if you want to have happy connected employees and if you want to reduce costs of recruiting and training replacement staff. Think about other ways you can celebrate life outside your walls.
I loved working at Griffin Technology. We built such a strong team and culture that we were able to grow and eventually, the acclaimed technology company was even acquired.
