Staff Trip Highlights

This past week our staff went on our annual Spring Staff Trip.  Each year we take 48 hours to get away as a team.  We use this time to get to know new team members, to dream, brainstorm and seek God for direction and vision for Cross Point, and quite honestly to have some fun!  In years past we’ve gone rafting on the Ocoee, we’ve rented a houseboat, we’ve blown up a pontoon boat (long story) and created lots of memories and even more inside jokes.

This year I was really torn about whether we could even do staff trip like we have previous years.  We had to be extremely budget conscious.  We needed to reduce our budget from previous years even though we have added 7 new staff members.  For a staff of 22, that’s a big increase in one year!  But the more I got to thinking about it, I felt it was more important than ever to get away, recast vision and “initiate” these new team members.  So now I had to get creative.

How do we do staff trip for nearly 1/2 the budget of previous years but with 1/3 more staff?

The answer?: CAMP

Cross Point went to camp this year for staff trip.  By recruiting a creative team to help me, we came up with lots of ideas that were reminiscent of summer camp… and away we went.

• We rented cabins at a state park just a couple of hours away
• We cooked all of our own meals
• Each person was assigned KP (Kitchen patrol) for one meal
• Activities included hiking, field day, tennis, swimming, bonfire – all things that didn’t require any extra money
• We did a 24 hour film festival where each team created a film using specific criteria
• We reserved one of the meeting rooms in the conference center for $50 for one afternoon
• Craig Groeschel was our guest speaker for our discussion time and it only cost us $20!  (We used the “It” DVD curriculum published by Zondervan. It’s a little low-fi, but I highly recommend this as a tool for discussion with your team.)

All in all, we had a great time and we managed to cut budget in half!

I’m convinced that this time with our team is essential to creating a healthy, fun, committed staff culture.

No matter your budget, staff size or other limitations, I encourage you to find a way to get your team away at least once a year.  I’m convinced that this time of comaraderie is essential to a healthy staff.

What do you do with your team to create a healthy staff culture?  Share your ideas with us!