As some of you may know, a few months ago we were appointed the new directors of AOJ Guatemala. One of the first items of business was to discuss next steps with the entire staff. We made sure to encourage each and every worker at AOJ, from the maintenance staff to the teachers to the social workers, so that they know each one of them has a valuable role in growing and strengthening the organization. In some cases, we gave more responsibility to staff members who demonstrated a strong work ethic so that they will feel empowered to improve the organization at their level. For us, having the employees feel ownership of the organization is very important for them to feel motivated and excited about the future. Since then, the staff has responded positively and has rallied around us to make this organization grow.
In order to foster the harmony we have with the staff, we held the first ever staff retreat off-site at a private park in the city of
Our keynote speaker was Rudy Rojas, the Director of a respected non-profit organization in
Steve followed up with a hands-on workshop on success. He was really excited to do this with the staff because of his passion of motivating people to excel. The workshop involved dividing the entire staff into groups for various activities that were planned for the rest of the morning. The first activity required each group to be responsible for defending one of 5 pre-selected definitions of success: Money; Power; Intelligence; Fame; and, Spiritual Happiness. Once the definition was chosen from a hat, each group had 15 minutes to plan on how to defend that definition in a debate.
After the groups finished their planning, we held the debate between all the groups to see who had the true definition of success. After presenting its arguments, the other groups were free to critique. And did we ever have a lively discussion! It was amazing to see how well the staff defended their points and especially to see how normally timid people rose up to challenge the other groups. It was especially funny to hear our Spiritual Director David, who was part of the "Fame" group, and hearing how he defended "fame" as the key to success as opposed to Spiritual Happiness!
Later, the groups were asked to explain what they thought their purpose on this earth was for and how it related to success. All the groups responded that every person was put on this earth by God to serve a purpose, and for them specifically, it is to serve the people who need help the most. Furthermore, if we truly served that purpose, then we will achieve success. The responses were done so well, that we decided to take their answers to this question and turn them into Value Principles that we will use for the entire mission.
The morning sessions with the keynote speaker and the workshops with Steve seemed to go really well. The most important part of the morning was that the staff learned more about their value in the organization and how to truly find success in their lives.
After the morning session in the meeting hall, it was time to get the staff outdoors and enjoy the beautiful grounds. However, we still wanted the staff to learn more about "success" so our retreat planning crew designed activites that required the staff to work as a team in order to achieve success.
The activites were absolutely hilarious as it required team members to think of creative and "interesting" ways to overcome each challenge. One such activity required team members to move one another from one side of the field to the other so that the person being moved does not touch the ground. It was a nice ride for some....but was a hard crash for others. Another activity required team members to empty a bucket of water on one side of the field, and transfer the water to another bucket on the other side. However, the catch was that they could only use whatever material they can find on the grounds and there were no buckets or cups around! So it was funny to see team members cupping their hands with each other to carry the water and even some people decided to soak their clothes with water from the first bucket and wring them out to empty the water in the other bucket! Other activites included relay races that involved tying all team members by the ankles and having them walk around obstacles and trees in the fastest time. Suffice to say that at the end of the day, each person truly appreciated the concept of team-work!
But the last activity of the day was the most fun of all...the"suprise-in-a-bag relay"! In this race, both teams lined up against each other with 2 officials standing infront of them. Each official held a black garbage bag that was filled with different types of food that the team members did not know. When the whistle blew to start, each team member in turn had to put their hand in the bag and pull out whatever food they grabbed and eat on the spot! But they had to eat fast because the winning team was the one in which all team members ate all the food in the bag in the fastest time. Some of the items were easy to eat, like apples, tomatoes or a soft drink. But other items included sour limes, hot chili potato chips, large oranges that needed to be peeled, and a large banana that was almost a foot long! We were shocked to see how fast a human being can gobble up a bag of chips or gulp down a bottle of orange soda. The looks on their faces during the whole game will never be forgotten!
Overall, the "success" retreat was definitely a success! Our staff work in one of the most difficult environments where they see child poverty on a daily basis and regurlarly have to come up with ways to save these children from starvation, chronic illness, abuse and even death. It was important for us to have this special day for them in order to show our gratitude for their work and to motivate them to continue doing what they do best. We hope that the lessons on success will help guide their future careers and goals, wherever they may be. As long as they are serving for purpose, we will always be proud of them.
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