This week was rather short on office time, with a two-day organisation retreat followed by a team retreat in Berlin. I had also spent two fulfilling days in Paris over the weekend, contending with a heatwave and celebrating the Fête de la Musique alongside a fellow Laidlaw scholar (shoutout Viktoria Springer)! First to recount was our trip to Bad Belzig in Brandenburg, where we gathered for mindfulness activities and skill-building workshops. I unfortunately missed my connecting train, making for a somewhat less mindful start than intended. Once there, following instructions for team activities in German stretched my language capacities in novel ways that reading at my desk had not. The vegan food, meanwhile, was unexpectedly delectable for someone whose usual diet is decidedly less plant-based.
The retreat gave me a chance to spend time with colleagues beyond our usual work exchanges. With mindfulness given space alongside skill-building, I began to think more about how leaders make time for a team to pause and connect. There was something valuable in having that time built into the organisation’s schedule, particularly given the heavy subject matter of our work. For me, the language barrier remained a challenge: participating notably meant accepting that I could not catch every instruction immediately. I want to become more comfortable asking for clarification in those moments, rather than letting uncertainty make me hesitate.
Our team retreat then took us to the former Tegel Airport, where our director had arranged a visit to learn about its redevelopment into a sustainability and innovation hub, including plans for a “sponge city.” The tour was conducted entirely in German, giving my listening comprehension another considerable workout. We rounded off the outing with a team döner, and it was these informal moments that made the week feel especially worthwhile. We got to see each other as people first. I came away appreciating how a team’s relationships develop through the time its leaders make for simply being together.
