Today we have a guest post from BigDoor’s own HR Nasty.  A few weeks ago the company went on an off-site – it was a fairly simple  get-together and, as HR Nasty explains, it was important for the team to get away and gain some perspective on the company and where we’re headed.   An excerpt from his recent post about building a team and the importance of perspective below:

Team Building is a lot of different things to a lot of different people. For some its group exercises (Ropes Courses and Trust Falls come to mind here) and a lot of Kool-Aid-drinking-Kumbaya-singing kind of “stuff.” We’re a startup; we work fast and long hours. Team building for us is a little different:

• Focus on Company Strategy. Getting everyone on the same page around the strategy of the company. Our off-site focused on our 3-6 months goals and more importantly WHY they are they are so critical to our success. Getting everyone on the same page is important, and for companies of any size I think it’s key to give everyone the opportunity to know what the company goals are.
• Asking Questions and Challenging Decisions. Giving folks the opportunity to ask questions and challenge decisions made / being made. This is really important in our company. If employees aren’t on board with the company goals, not only will the company suffer, but the employee image, commitment level, and engagement will suffer in the long run. Nobody wins.
• Taking Time for Fun. People came and went around the campfire. We talked about work but also made time for things other than work. Topics included Google +; mobile platforms; startup technologies; bad jokes; how NOT to roast a s’more. There wasn’t any singing or hand-holding. There was some semi-responsible drinking and a lot of “teasing because we love.”
• Team Swag. Three of our amazing developers are named on our patent application and we had a little fun by creating some T-Shirts with their names and our patent application number.

We’d echo HR Nasty’s points here, it was fun to get away and it’s great to work with such a stellar team.  Sound fun? Check out our current jobs and enjoy some of our photos below from the off-site.