Ever since Studio MM started growing and adding people to our team, we’ve had a firm belief in taking time twice a year to go on a team offsite. Offsites are a great way to get to know each other as colleagues and as individuals. They also help us discover and discuss how we approach our work and to build on a sense of team. We spend time reflecting on our own strengths and values and do lots of bonding exercises. Since the entire event was orchestrated by Marica, you can also bet that there was a lot of great food involved…
The past year and a half has been a momentous one for Studio MM. Throughout the pandemic, we’ve found ways to readjust and stay resilient. We’ve adopted new ways of collaborating and discovered new tools to communicate with our clients. The biggest shift, however, has been exponentially growing our team. In March of 2021, we had just hired Holdt – team member number six. Six weeks ago, we hired Shannon – team member 14! The last four hires – Taylor, Cliff, Amlin and Shannon – all happened in the last two months. We were thrilled to welcome new people onto the team, and we also knew that it was definitely time for an offsite. Thankfully, we were all able to gather in upstate New York two weeks ago to celebrate, meet each other in person, and do some much needed team bonding.
Getting Together
The last Studio MM offsite was back in 2019, before even Gina was hired! This meant that the majority of the team had no idea what to expect from our time away – and Marica likes to keep things very tightly under wraps. For this offsite, she planned two and a half action-packed days of site visits, meals together, collaboration exercises, saving time even for a bit of reflection.
On Wednesday, we all gathered upstate – making it up from NYC, Connecticut and Michigan is no small feat! We were lucky enough to be able to stay at the Starlite Motel, a lovingly renovated spot in Kerhonkson. Marica said she would keep things pretty low-key on the first day, but little did we know that Ilsa had other plans. After settling into the Starlite, we all gathered at one of our new construction sites. Ilsa surprised all of us by sharing that our first Studio MM baby will be joining us in the fall! A mini-celebration followed – complete with pink hummus, fizzy drinks and watermelon. We are all so happy for her and her family and can’t wait for the cute baby photos to come!
We spent much of the weekend enjoying the food delights that can be found in the area. Our first evening out was at the Stonehouse Tavern, a favorite spot of Marica’s. We wound down the evening with some s’mores and casual hang-out time back at the Starlite Motel firepit. Other favorite bites were from Love Bird and Olsen and Company. We were lucky enough to spend Friday evening at Westwind Orchard playing a few rounds of corn hole, enjoying their wood-fired pizzas and spending some much needed time relaxing and hanging out beneath a warm summer sky.
Digging In
Much of Thursday was spent over at Tinkerbox. Colbi shared some of her all too famous cold brew, and Taylor delighted everyone with her homemade cinnamon rolls. We spent much of the morning reflecting on our own values, sharing them with colleagues in small groups. We do this exercise at many of our offsites. It’s a great way of checking in with our own values and mindsets before digging into the Studio.
We then took time to discuss how all of our individual values applied to all of Studio MM. Marica summed it up best when she described our values as a whole: everything we do, we do with heart. That extends to ourselves, our colleagues, our contractors and of course, our clients.
The next morning, we sat down for a very informative, engaging discussion on firm management and profitability that was led by Tracy. Even though we all have different levels of experience and knowledge, one of the most impressive and amazing things about this team is how we are able to share ideas and suggestions. Tracy provided us with an excellent overview of how things work in her world of finances and budgeting. We then had a productive and positive conversation on how to improve the spots where we sometimes get stuck. The ability to brainstorm in such a large group was a great testament to the team and how we collaborate.
Team Building
Of course, no offsite would be complete without some kind of construction exercise. In the past, we’ve built tables, made building blocks for kids, or put together lights. This time, Marica decided to shake things up a bit. On Thursday we were all divided into teams of three or four, each with an assigned role. We had a project manager, a presenter and a communicator. Each of us was tasked with designing a birdhouse using materials from Tinkerbox’s workshop. We would need to complete drawings and present the projects to our illustrious judge, Colbi.
On Friday, we worked with Eric, Tim and Rich to build our birdhouses – but only our communicator was allowed to speak with our team’s assigned contractor. Check out the video above to see how the process went! At the end of the exercise, Colbi surprised all of us by sharing some incredible drawings she had done of each of the projects, showing each of us the love and care that goes into everything we do.
Site Visits
Since we haven’t had too many opportunities to come and do site visits upstate in the past few months, we were all very excited to be able to see a number of our projects currently under construction. We’ve shared much of the progress on these in Construction Updates – and will share more soon, but here are some of our favorite moments visiting each of these homes. It was especially fun to see our new team members see the homes we build – standing in one of our projects is an amazing experience that photos sometimes can’t capture.
Wrapping Up
While Marica puts lots of work into making offsites run smoothly, it was amazing to see each and every team member contribute to the success of the offsite. From bringing snacks and sweets, to leading birdhouse teams, to sharing new ideas and guiding us through each of our projects under construction, every single one of us had something to add. We’re so excited that growing Studio MM hasn’t meant diluting that sense of togetherness – and has only increased the strength of our team and what we are able to accomplish!
2 comments