Staff Shop One Love Retreat 2024 in Costa Rica
Staff Shop’s team embarked on a one-week professional development retreat in beautiful Santa Teresa, Costa Rica this month. This kick-off to 2024 embodied the company’s battle cry “One Love”. To our Founder & CEO, Jennifer Ménard-Shand this means “We rally, chant and battle in 2024 to unite and capture the value of ‘one firm’ aka One Love. A way of being that is beneficial to our mindset, operations, stakeholders and industry. It’s aligned with who we are, our differentiators, the value we provide and the promise we keep. A voice and way that is like no other in the industry from a competitive advantage internally and externally. A choice to grow from being a Leadership Factory breeding Servant Leaders, to operating with One Love because love always wins.”
With a program designed by our COO, Alison Hernández, the week encompassed three journeys. “Who I am”, a focus on who we are as individuals with periods of self-reflection and self-examination. “Who We Are”, a focus on who we are as a team to determine what makes Staff Shop unique as a company and how we are united by the mission we’ve chosen. Lastly, “Get the W”, a focus on bringing together who we are as individuals and who we are as a team and turning them into action.
“My daughter having a blast and overcoming a few of her fears was amazing. Meeting and spending time with my co-workers was another level experience providing me a different perspective on how I engage with them now,” says Nidhi Soni, Accounting Manager.
Living out our value of Freedom, our CEO was passionate about delivering this experience under the palm trees and sunshine. The retreat featured several team-building activities including a jungle hike to the Montezuma Falls, daily yoga, surfing lessons, a Rape Aggression Self Defense Course and more. One of the main events of the retreat was a beach cleanup to give back to the local community and do our part in maintaining the beauty and health of Costa Rica’s beach and sea life. This was an essential aspect of our team building activities as Staff Shop believes that during our short time on earth, we have the responsibility to use our gifts, resources, finances and efforts to elevate people and glorify God’s unconditional love.
Diving deeper into our Core Values Index™ scores; gratitude journals and daily reflections allowed the team to foster deeper connections with themselves and each other. “Our retreat offered uninterrupted focus, enabling us to explore new ways to elevate ourselves personally and professionally,” says Chantal Porter, Staffing Manager.
If you want to discover more about our trip check out our TikTok and Instagram page.
One Firm, One Love. Staff Shop is ready for an incredible journey ahead!
