At GenOne, our supportive culture is key for our team members. Each of us helps each other navigate the challenges of building a nonprofit, and everyone uplifts one another through our unique strengths. Each team member has felt the space and room to contribute their ideas, lead where they are strong, and experience growth through a devotion to life-long learning. The impact this team has been able to make over the last four years is outstanding; and it has required continuously re-orienting ourselves. It’s why we were excited to launch our first ever staff retreat in partnership with North Carolina Outward Bound School last spring, a tradition we’re excited to continue. Outward Bound intentionally created hands-on activities that helped us dive deeper to understand our unique strengths and areas of growth as individuals and a team. Their work went so much further than any personality survey could. It pushed us to communicate clearly, rely on each other, trust each other’s leadership, practice active listening, and implement critical reflection. They also challenged us to learn map skills and navigate an unknown trail system to get all of us around the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens – an excellent metaphor for what it is like constantly navigating the uncertain and fast changing landscape of non-profit work. A deep and sincere thank you to Outward Bound for their intentional facilitation – and affordable professional development rates :) We highly recommend them!
