Strategy Day: why taking a day out maintains a kick-ass culture and grows your business

This post is by ntegrity’s newest team member, our intern Amy.

From day one of being an intern with the ntegrity team, it’s plain obvious that they love what they do and they love the people they get to work with. But how do they keep up their boundless energy, ocean of creative ideas and genuine joy to come to work day in, day out? As I discovered recently, part of the reason lies in Strategy Day.

Strategy Day builds the culture you want

The anticipation for the quarterly Strategy Day was in the air before it had even arrived. The team explained that it’s a much-loved day in their calendar: it plays an important role in shaping ntegrity’s identity, and helps them achieve such big wins.

It’s a time to celebrate achievements, track growth, brainstorm improvements to the way they do things, and set targets for the quarter ahead, as well as grow closer as a team.

Simply put, Strategy Day is extremely strategic!

Strategy Day means getting away to bring it back together

Though the team are together every day, it’s not often we get the chance to socialise without a time limit or agenda, and really take time out to celebrate our incredible successes. So taking advantage of summer’s last efforts, we all gathered on a private property on the Mornington Peninsula. From the moment I arrived it was clear that the fresh air, change of scenery and chance to hang out sans our ever present laptops was ideal for everyone.The team of both new (including interns and staff) and old were relaxed and comfortable with each other.

One thing was clear: at ntegrity they don’t just get along for the sake of work, they’re actually solid friends who enjoy each other’s company.

Strategy Day is actually strategic

While Strategy Day at ntegrity is seemingly organic, there is real strategy behind each and every part of the day. There was time for relaxation and fun, time for refreshing, time for celebrating and time for planning ahead.

After breakfast, Richenda shared the ntegrity story. She didn’t just share the glossy stuff about the success of the business, but also the personal triumphs, the challenges, and the love, sweat and heartache that has been part of growing ntegrity. It was so honest and extremely personal, but it made me feel like I was now part of the family at ntegrity, something that I know is rare.

We also heard from Kevin (ntegrity’s Operations main man) on the more detailed and practical matters that make ntegrity tick, from how we get clients, how we keep them, and the simple wins like improving efficiency and quality of work. Kevin’s presentation allowed me to really absorb how much growth ntegrity has experienced in such a short amount of time, and its sweeping flight path for the future.

Strategy Day builds future

This is the day that sets up ntegrity to kick serious butt. At work, it’s easy to get stuck “in the weeds”. Strategy Day makes room for blue-sky, future talk. It allows the team to zoom in and out of ntegrity: drawing both the big picture business plan and detailing the simple steps for how to get there.

Strategy Day is fun

While parts of the day were deep, there were equal amounts of lightness: eating our delicious lunch and drinking our one (or three) glasses of bubbly outside, lots of cuddles with Richenda’s daughter Ashna and a good old bush walk along the back paths of Arthur’s Seat to bring the day to a close.

But it wasn’t just taking a break from the office for the sake of taking a break. Out of the team’s “comfort zone” we all communicated differently, our team became tighter, and our thoughts were clearer than before.

Strategy Day propels us to go deeper, higher, and wider than we have before, and because of this, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Could your business benefit from a change in workplace culture? Read more ntegrity insights here.