One of the best perks of top team retreats in South East Asia, is the opportunity to be close to the beach and the wide ocean. Away from the office and the bustling metropoles, leaders have an opportunity to create distance to their crazy normality at work and shed their labels. A space to be more human and who they are.
My favorite moment in such retreats is when the team comes together around the campfire, or at least a fire basket. Wearing flipflops, having some drinks and let things happen. There is no agenda. An agenda would be like throwing a bucket of water onto the fire... But the moment is also not unintentional.
When people stare into the fire, calmness and softness emerges. The face relaxes, body decelerates, thoughts wander and reflection happens. There is access to a different level within oneself, and potentially also with team mates.
And at some point, someone starts to talk.
It can be a lingering question, that has not yet been dared to be asked.
Or a reflection on the team’s situation, that was so far unspoken.
Or a personal sharing, which touches team mates around the fire.
This is one of the moments where a significant shift can happen. A shift that recreates the team and its way of working together.
Often what emerges at the campfire is something that was so far perceived to be “off limits”.
By bringing it out, the team opens a new quality in their togetherness. It can radically shift the connections within the team, create crystal clarity on challenges, it can lead to fundamental shift of strategies and be a source for courage.
Some top teams are very conscious about the power of campfire conversations, and I have worked with several teams that intentionally defer certain discussions and thoughts to the campfire conversation in the evening.
Some teams need a little support in setting it up. As a facilitator, I never ask people to be “vulnerable”, and I also do not explain what is supposed to happen around the campfire. Now and then participants ask for guidance and “what should we talk about?”, but I leave them to fill the space.
My work at the campfire is neither coaching, nor facilitation. It is more of a “presence”, with a very light touch.
I sit in the circle, maybe a notch further away from the fire than others. I am mostly silent, while I listen deeply, sense signals and the unspoken. My presence and connection with the team helps create a space where leaders can be humans, so that things happen for them and the team. Alas, the diffuse work on team campfires actually starts much earlier, when I first meet the team, and it percolates in the moments we have together thereafter.
When it comes to the campfire itself, my work is threefold: Figure out when the time is right, make sure the location can accommodate a campfire and make sure there are comfortable chairs and enough drinks. Nothing more.
I highly recommend to “play with fire” and introduce such campfire moments in your next team retreat.
Yours
Henrik