arizona

i recently went on another work trip. this time i hopped on the plane and landed in phoenix, arizona. although we enjoyed the familiarity of a late night in-n-out run, it wasn't a typical work trip. this time around was a staff retreat. the wealthcounsel and advisors forum staff flew in from both ends of the country to meet for a lot of team building, personality profiling, and just plain fun. you'll notice from the picture above, we really were in the middle of the desert for the team building exercises. as you see, i'm not afraid of a little port-o-potty. i've seen a few of these in my day.

the team building was a great experience. there were a lot of people from the wealthcounsel staff who don't know the advisors forum staff and vice versa. we played all sorts of games and had to really open up and rely on each other to make it through the games. we played games that really made us think. at the end of the day we participated in a ropes course. it was inspiring to see how everyone rallied together and really wanted the others to succeed. i felt like there were a lot of relationships forged. it was fascinating to watch so many different personalities work together and succeed. i really saw the strengths of a team working together to make things happen.

our second day included personality profiling. this activity was fascinating to me. i've thought a lot about it since and have been trying to incorporate it in my day-to-day. before the retreat, we all took a personality profile test. it is called the DiSC profile. it reminds me a lot of the color personality test. you know, the red, blue, white, and yellow personalities. the personality profiling helped us recognize how we communicate and how we react to the way others communicate with us. we had a speaker explain to us his understanding of what works and what doesn't with each of the profiles. the breakdown of each category in layman's terms is as follows:

D = dominant

i = incessant talker

S = steady

C = calculator

my personal profile is really high in C, S, and i. i hardly have any D. the realization that this combination is not right or wrong, it's just one of many combinations that works was interesting and effective.

the speaker ran us through a few exercises and analyzed how we reacted. it was fascinating to watch as the dominant people finished the exercises and felt like they were wasting time waiting for the calculators who didn't seem to have enough time. we found that we all have elements of each of the categories, but there are usually one or two that we are strongest in. understanding our own style is only a part of successful communication. understanding other's style is key to adapting and strengthening relationships. in the end, the speaker talked about how important it is to be certain that we are aware of other's feelings and needs. if we have offended, we need to recognize and express sincere concern. showing interest in how others feel and what they need increases our capability to be strong as an organization. this principle rings true. it is so easy to get caught in the trap of thinking that the world revolves around me. i continually face the harsh reality that it doesn't. it's so refreshing when i personally recognize that all the planets aren't circling around me before it needs to be pointed out.

some of my favorite memories of the trip include:

• jonathan mintz pulling up to the airport in a 14 passenger van.
• jim hillhouse asking me all about my mission in taiwan as we were at the chinese restaraunt. he was making me feel like such an expert.
• the success of making it across the high-wire/tight rope with lori berry. we felt like we'd conquered the world!
• kelly rees teaching pat fleming to text message.
• jonathan graciously letting me take his first class seat on the trip back home.

all in all, i'd say it was a successful trip. i'd take another one of these work trips in a heartbeat!