A feedback I got from one of the founders was that it was a great experience for them to have time to think about more strategic questions.
The exercises helped to structure their insights about the organization so it was easier to translate them into tangible priorities and action steps.
For example, in a session that remains memorable for me, I came prepared with a very complex and multilayered agenda and a full Mural board, but we never moved past the first exercise. It was a short visualization, and it brought up such a huge topic for them (which hadn’t been on the agenda for that day) that I remember working extremely hard in my head to ask the right questions that would help them figure it out. They managed to reach a conclusion by the end of the session. They shared afterwards that they had been talking about it for months between themselves, so being able to untangle it in our meeting was an important step.
Because I talked to every team member in the company for our Culture Day project, I was able to bring the issues and opinions people voiced to the founders. This helped them see the overlap and the differences between what they saw and what their employees saw happening in the organization.
As an outcome of the conversations, we had a complete issue mapping and a clear set of organizational priorities. It enabled the team to consciously work on things that needed their attention the most. Once they gained a clear understanding of the strengths and current challenges of the organization, they were able to take direction and resolve issues on their own outside of our meetings.