As we settled in for the final quarter of the year, the entire E&S team reunited in Omaha for our Q4 all-hands gathering – one of our favorite traditions. This year, we prioritized work time together versus filling our calendars with outings or special activities. Why? In the hybrid, fast-paced world we live in, nothing beats the buzz of in-person collaboration. Of course, it wouldn’t be an E&S celebration without a bit of fun, too. Keep reading to see how we spent our week together:
Day 1.
Our remote employees from Denver, Milwaukee and Los Angeles joined us in the office on Monday morning for a delicious pastry breakfast. Freshly caffeinated and reunited, we met as an agency to talk about what we were most looking forward to that week and share some positive words about each other. The meeting was capped by a special group exercise with surprisingly minimal instructions.
Each person was given a card with an image on the back and told to partner up. You could describe your image to the other person but not show it. Interesting…
After several minutes of describing in pairs and then in small groups, we realized all the images must fit together in a particular order. One by one, we flipped each image around to discover we had successfully lined up correctly (on the first try). Communication and trust were essential characteristics to getting things done when we didn’t know where we were headed…much like the messy middle of any project. Aha!
Day 2.
Productivity day! Tuesday was full of internal meetings and preparation for some exciting client meetings the rest of the week. Since we follow the EOS® philosophy for our agency operations, this included our team L10 meetings to connect on key projects for the week and go over any outstanding issues.
Day 3.
On Wednesday, we led an annual planning workshop to talk through some exciting 2025 goals for one of our insurance clients, presented a strategic brand platform for a local client and much more. The cherry on top of the day was our weekly Wednesday happy hour. Only this time, we turned it into a game night complete with Jenga, Yahtzee and, of course, Mario Kart.
Day 4.
The highlight of Thursday was coming together as an agency for our DEI roundtable meeting. We’ve been working through Lean In’s Allyship At Work training in small groups over the past few months. Our time as a group was spent reflecting on some of our key takeaways as an agency and as individuals. We talked a lot about how each of us holds power in our position to make our spaces more inclusive and inviting.
That evening, we had our biggest event of the week. We took over the party room in one of our favorite Omaha establishments, Vis Major, for our very own trivia night, topped off with a bit of karaoke. Trivia night proved very educational, as we learned some surprising fun facts about our team. For example, we have a three-time speech and debate state champion among us, as well as one team member with 48 first cousins. Who knew!
Day 5.
For the final day of our Q4 all-hands gathering, we closed out the work week feeling grateful and freshly inspired. We love what we do, but getting to do it with such supportive and multi-talented folks makes our work even more rewarding.