Everyone writes a team letter of their own working here.
Team Letter | December 11, 2023
December 11, 2023
Happy MondayFriday, Alpaca!
WOW, it’s been a week, y’all. So many moving parts, so many packs, so many different sales and marketing efforts, our Barbie returned from her triumphant marathon, and our very own Marina Erickson finished off another AMAZING semester at school!
For the past 14 weeks, Marina has been creating weekly reflections about her work with Alpaca. This week, she was generous enough to share it with me. As a business owner and leader, it’s rare to get the raw, in-the-moment insights from team members about how they’re REALLY feeling, what they’re most focused on, and how they’re doing.
In an interesting way, that’s exactly what Alpaca’s new product is going to be all about – how to listen personally, act thoughtfully, and celebrate joyfully, the work of your team. I can’t wait to show our product roadmap next week.
Reading Marina’s work, I learned about how she really felt about those celebration notes (seriously! SORRY!!), the melting chocolate, our team retreat.
Here’s a reflection on the team retreat that I simply LOVED reading and learning about:
Banana Pancakes and a 14 month year!
The entire office closed for a company retreat, where we focused on setting goals for 2024, product improvements, and innovative ways to engage with our audience. We roadtripped to camp Wandawega. If you haven’t heard of it, I suggest you look it up and take a little peak! This roadtrip cultivated an experience for our team that we may have not had if just staying in the office and talking about our big goals (which is just as important and we love that too!). I got to get roadtrip snacks with my coworkers, sing car songs, yell “There's a cow!”, and talk about life in the car!
We got to camp, and we had the ENTIRE place to ourselves. It was so beautiful and old in all the right ways. We went to the little grocery store in town, planned meals, made smores, stayed up too late giggling, and watched the sunset together. It was very beautiful. We woke up early and made banana pancakes, eggs, yogurt bowls and fresh coffee. I dont know, there is something special and intimate about relationships like that. If I cook someone breakfast, well, that's sacred to me. But cooking breakfast WITH someone, well that's another type of bond. I got to experience that, and I am grateful! At the camp we had some outdoor time and explored the acres of camp, saw deer, bunny and many squirrel. Also HEARD a flying squirrel!
While at retreat we came up with a dang good plan. Rather than winding down for the end of the year, we decided to operate as if we had a 14-month year to gain a head start on our objectives. If most companies close down, why not use that time to marinate on something and start working on it early!! The retreat also fostered team bonding through shared workshop activities and experiences. The motivation behind these activities was to pick the plan for the future and maintain team cohesion, which we did! We workshopped our goals for 2024, assessed our product's messaging, and committed to a 14-month plan, which is a lot to lay down in two days! The retreat allowed us to combine work and leisure, fostering a stronger sense of camaraderie among the team.
See this part? “If I cook someone breakfast, well, that's sacred to me. But cooking breakfast WITH someone, well that's another type of bond.” I learned something there, and I’m grateful for it.
I loved every minute, and it made me realize: We each have our own “team letter” in our experiences with this company every week. The things we’re observing, experiencing, excited by, frustrated by, inspired by, proud of.
I want to invite you to share your experiences with me, in whatever way makes sense, and only if and when you want to. I love hearing from you like Marina loves making you breakfast. :)
With Marina’s permission, I am including a link to her absolutely beautiful final paper for her class this semester. THANK YOU Marina for sharing it with us!
Let’s go, Team Alpaca!!!
Karen
PS: Marina, thank you for saying the words “It was very beautiful” about a single moment of your experience in this company. You don’t know how much that means to me.