Using Open Space Technology at Our In-Person Retreat
George DeMet, Andy Masullo, Ashley Cyborski, Jes Constantine, Malak Desai, Jill Farley, Christina Hu, and jayme johnson reflect on Palantir's first in-person retreat in nearly four years. They share insights on using Open Space Technology for the retreat agenda, fostering psychological safety for open conversations, and social activities that brought out everyone's talents and personalities. The team also provides tips on how create an retreat environments where people feel safe to be vulnerable and authentic.
Transcript
George DeMet
Hello and welcome to Plus Plus, the podcast from Palantir.net where we talk about what's new and interesting in the world of open source technologies and agile methodologies. I'm your host, George DeMet. On today's episode, we have a few Palantir team members here to talk about our recent in-person retreat, which was held at a ranch in the Colorado Rockies. We're a remote company, and this was the first time we've all met in person since the fall of 2019. In fact, for many of us, it was the first time being in the same room with any of our colleagues. But before we get to that, I wanted to share a brief announcement.
As you may have heard, Drupal 7 reaches end of life on January 5th, 2025, which means it will no longer receive any security support after that date. Palantir is one of a small number of Drupal Association certified migration partners for both enterprise and midscale projects. So if you're still running a Drupal 7 site out there, just drop us a line and we can help you start planning your migration today.
So, I'm here with Palantir team members Andy Masullo, Ashley Cyborski, Jes Constantine, Malak Desai, Jill Farley, Christina Hu, and jayme johnson. And my first question to you all is what was it like getting to meet your colleagues in person?
Ashley Cyborski
This is Ashley. I've been at Palantir since 2013, so I've definitely met a few colleagues in person. But after COVID, with the three- to four-year break we had between retreats, and since we only really did virtual retreats, even for someone who's been here as long as me, when we got there, I was still shocked at how many Palantiri there were that I had never met in person. Even some people I'd never had a call with, you know. We're a small company, so it always blows my mind that I'm like, "Oh, I've never been on a call with you before. How is that possible?" So it was amazing meeting everyone. It's nice to finally see people in person as human beings, not as little pixel squares on a screen, and get to talk with them like real water cooler talk, not Slack water cooler talk. So, I really enjoyed it.
Jill Farley
Hi, this is Jill. Like Ashley, I have been at Palantir for a little while. I've been with Palantir for five years, and so I've been to a couple of retreats already. But yeah, this one felt so different. It felt higher stakes, and I actually had some anxiety going into it, which is odd for me because I am an extrovert. But, I don't know. Once I got over that— and I know we'll talk about some of the ways that we interacted— but, I just want to say, jumping to the outcome, it totally delivered. My cup is refilled. I have more motivation and energy to collaborate with my colleague friends and so, I don't know, it just did wonders for the relationships that I already have with everybody. So that was kind of the outcome, since Ashley talked about the beginning of the retreat.
Christina Hu
Hey everybody, this is Christina. For me, this was my first time coming to the retreat. I've been at Palantir for a little over a year now, but my experience has been absolutely wonderful. Some of my colleagues have already shared some of their beautiful experiences. What I would like to add to that is, I did make a lot of connections online over the year that I've been here at Palantir, but when I got to the retreat and saw everybody in person, those connections that I made online were just made stronger. And I formed new connections that I wasn't able to make either because I simply didn't have the opportunity to work with them on a project. But I think more importantly, the fact that the connection was made when meeting in person, because I guess that was the only thing that was needed to meet in person, hug it out, and share some of our differences. It was just absolutely wonderful.
Andy Masullo
This is Andy. I've been with the company now for about four months, so about a month in, you announced the retreat, and I'm like, "The Rockies, and I get to meet everybody?" So, I was very, very excited to get there and talk with everybody. And I think I was even saying this to you, George, at the very beginning, in our welcome circle, that I'm interested just to feel everyone's spirit— as cheesy and abstract as that sounds. You don't get that when you're in Google Meets. Just to see everybody move around and to feel their spirit in person was really great. So, all my meetings just feel totally different post-retreat.
Malak Desai
Hi, this is Malak. So, I have been with Palantir since 2017, and like some of the folks mentioned, I have been in a couple of in-person retreats. But with the COVID stuff happening and that timeframe that we all stayed away from each other, I think that this was really helpful in connecting and forming those new bonds with each other. So, even as someone who has been with the company for so long, it felt like I only knew a few people and, like, I was meeting them for the first time. I was feeling a little bit nervous and had those anxieties that Jill mentioned as well. Being an introvert didn't help, but the atmosphere and the environment that the folks created helped me settle in very comfortably. It also helped me be more open and vocal about the stuff that I had gone through and I was going through. It really helped me form those connections and relationships with my coworkers, so that I can be a little bit more open with them, which was really helpful for me to continue my growth at this company. It also helped in coming back with a fresh mind and doing stuff on projects with an open mind and with more clarity and communication. So yeah, that was super great to see everyone in person and to see that everyone is as weird as I am.
Ashley Cyborski
Everyone is as weird as each other here, and that's what's awesome.
Malak Desai
It was good to see everyone's skills and talents, and to showcase mine. So it was really entertaining.
Ashley Cyborski
Yeah, everyone's hidden talents come out of the woodworks.
Jill Farley
You're not gonna get away from us talking about your boy band dancing to the karaoke. We'll talk about that in a minute. You can't hide.
Andy Masullo
Yeah, Malak, you bring up a great point though about COVID being in the rearview mirror now. I know that it wasn't easy for everybody to go and do this retreat and be in person and be on for a couple of days, but man, the further we went into it, the more I felt like there was just so much love there that we were able to make everybody comfortable and everybody was able to engage in the way that they wanted to. So it was great to feel that warmth in the group again.
George DeMet
I was surprised at just how much emotion everyone had. It was really powerful because we hadn't been together in person in so long, and for some of us, just being social in person was not something that some of us had done in a long time. And I think that really added to the overall feeling of the event.
jayme johnson
Hi, this is jayme. I was somebody who was taking a huge jump in my life and coming to the retreat. I started at Palantir about 16 months ago, so I had actually had a pretty decent amount of time to get to know a lot of my coworkers through Slack and working on projects and stuff like that. And so I felt like I knew them and sort of desperately wanted to know them in real life. I was kind of afraid and dragging my feet about going to the retreat at first, but then I was one of those at the last minute, like, just kidding, I wanna come. I went from still being afraid to go to the grocery store to an airport, another airport, and then a dude ranch with 50 of my closest friends and coworkers. It was completely overwhelming. The way that everybody came together made it feel so welcoming and fostered such a space of belonging.
Jes Constantine
This is Jes. I've been with Palantir for five and a half years, and I feel like someone has to be the comedic relief. So we have to say the things that you say when you work with someone remotely and then you see them in person. Like, we got to see how tall everyone was. We got to say, "Oh, you look so different when you're outside of your little box," because you're usually in a Zoom call or a Meet call. Or, "Oh, that's what you wear on your feet." I forget what other ones, you know, what else did people hear? Those were my favorites. And the hugs, I think the hugs were also my favorites.
jayme johnson
There were lots of hugs, there were lots of tears, and at the end of it, I think that we all became friends and got to know each other in a way that, even if we had known each other previously, we hadn't known each other quite that way before.
Jill Farley
Now I feel like all of the listeners are like, "What did they do there?"
George DeMet
So for this year's retreat, we used a format called Open Space Technology, where the participants are responsible for crafting the agenda themselves. And it follows four key principles, which are that whoever comes are the right people. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have happened. Whenever it starts is the right time. And when it's over, it's over. So I'm curious how folks found that this format helped shape the conversations we had and the subjects we talked about, as opposed to a more traditional retreat structure where we might come in with a pre-planned agenda.
Jill Farley
I think it was the perfect balance of flexibility and structure. Our company has been focused on self-organization and learning how to be more of a flat structure for a couple of years. So it was a really neat experience to see how we could operate in person for multiple days without someone telling us what to talk about and how to interact. It was a mirror to how we've been trying to conduct our teams and the way that we work as a company. Traditionally, especially even with our own retreats in the last couple of years, it's been heavy program prep by a couple of people. So it's been a lot of detailed content and program planning, and a lot of weight on just a few. The funny thing is, I feel like the conversation always goes where it's gonna go anyways. So regardless of how much work somebody put into this, it's like trying to hold water. The conversation's just gonna naturally go where it wants to go. And this format, instead of fighting that and trying to keep a rigid structure around something, it really embraced it. And the ideas were coming from the people who were going to have the conversations. And then for those who didn't wanna proactively pitch something, they could just kind of wander around and see what sounded interesting.
Ashley Cyborski
What I liked about it was it was a very safe space to experiment. One of the things that, when we're at work, experimenting on a project can be really scary and intimidating. And the retreat was set up in a way that if you wanted to dip your toe into experimentation, try something out, it really opened up the spectrum for everybody to do what they needed to do and what they wanted to do when they wanted to do it. I've been to a lot of retreats in the past, but it was really rewarding in a way that past retreats weren't. Because at past retreats, at the end of eight hours of programming and then a planned team dinner or team activities, you are so tired and you've spent all of your energy trying to focus on these conversations. So you actually are able to bring less of yourself into the space because you're worried so much about focusing and paying attention. And by the end, you are so tired. This was exactly the perfect amount of programming of work-related conversations, but topics we want, and then the exact right amount of team prep programming that you could bounce in and out of and take breaks from when you needed to, with a lot of options. So it was really great.
Andy Masullo
Yeah, when we got there and they were setting up the open technology format, I was like, "You're gonna let all of us run this sort of thing?" I was a little bit like, "Dang, you really giving us the reins here?" But what was really interesting was whenever we were lining up and we were saying to the group what we wanted to do, and when you looked at the marketplace of all the different sessions that we had, it was like, "Wow, we got a lot of knowledge in a lot of different areas and domains here." So once again, being new, it was like, "Yeah, what does this company know? What do these individuals know?" And you got a real good visual of that right from the get-go. It was impossible to attend all the sessions, but just seeing the breadth of knowledge that we have there, man, it's something else.
Jes Constantine
It resonates with me that it felt open source to me also. Like, I know it's called Open Space Technology, but it was like, it's community-driven, right? Like the topics, what you wanna work on, what you wanna move forward, the issues that people have, what you wanna attend. Like, it just felt very aligned with the space that we already work in at Palantir. I was also curious, like who are gonna be the people that presented topics, but having the flexibility to say, "I think this is something that's important for us to talk about, but I'm not necessarily someone who has expertise to bring all of the context," was super welcoming for me. Like, 'cause then you could just come there and you could lead a circle conversation or something else to just say, "This was important to you, you came here, so you tell me why you're here," and move the topic forward that way, which is spot on. I thought.
George DeMet
I also had no idea what folks were gonna talk about or if this format was even gonna work or anything. But we had a really great facilitator, Lyssa Adkins, who I think many folks might know from the world of agile coaching. She did a really good job of setting up and really encouraging people to really bring themselves and to bring things that they wanted to talk about to the forefront. So I'm relieved at how well it worked and also really inspired. So yeah, I think we'll be using this format again in the future.
Ashley Cyborski
I think it just lets people who are passionate about something be passionate about it, and there's something really beautiful about that. You attract the other people who are passionate about the same things by them coming to your session. And you guys just have like a little jam together for about 45 minutes or an hour, and it is what it is. You feel energized going out of it, not tired from talking for so long.
Andy Masullo
Yeah, we had an actual jam, which I was really looking forward to, where all the guitar players brought guitars. We played one afternoon, and that was kind of like our rehearsal for later to play around the campfire to everybody. So I felt really connected to everybody that I talked to at the retreat. But some of those topics that were not work-related were really interesting to be around too.
George DeMet
Yeah. And that was, again, one of the really cool things about this format; there's no limit on what topics people can bring forward. So what were some of the topics that folks found most interesting?
Christina Hu
There were some topics about agile baggage, psychological safety, and also distributing accountability across your team. These were the top three that stood out to me because I was able to take those learnings that I could work on. Those were some of the areas I was struggling with, so those resonated with me the most.
Ashley Cyborski
I heard great things about the psychological safety session, and I was very bummed that I didn't get to go to it. I was at a table very nearby, and as I was leading mine, I was hearing some of the conversations and thinking, "What are you guys talking about? I wanna come over there." It sounded great.
Jill Farley
It was intense. I know there were several conversations about different aspects of psychological safety, different levels of it, you know, from "Do you feel comfortable experimenting in a team without repercussions?" all the way to "What does it feel like to be someone who may not enjoy the same social capital as others?" We had some conversations that really brought to the surface things that literally I don't think could have happened over a screen. And I think the cool part was we all saw each other, and it really hit a little harder that we need to be more aware of things. People may not feel as safe bringing their whole selves to their projects and to work. It was one of those situations where you probably don't have those conversations when you've got this sort of superficial boundary between you on the screen, and we really dug into it. It was not comfortable for everybody, me included. There were some times when I was like, "Wow, I really need to look at how I'm presenting myself in some situations." And I think that was the most powerful thing, that we all felt uncomfortable but willing to do it.
Ashley Cyborski
Yeah, Jill, I think one of the weird things is that we're a remote company. Like we're always on video for the most part. Unlike a lot of companies where maybe some people are off video more often, we're not. And so you think by seeing someone in person that you can get their social expressions and facial expressions and things like that to help you pick up those body cues. But when you get in person, it's just so much more intense. The way you can read people and resonate with people and vibe with them really changes the whole conversation and just makes talking so much easier. It's a huge reminder of how much a barrier talking through technology can be. It's great to have that connection with people.
Malak Desai
That was a really good point, Ashley. I can totally resonate with that. Like, having actual people, human beings, stand in front of you and have that conversation was really different from what you actually do on the computer screen. The session that was really helpful was about soft skills for developers. Like, we as developers have lots of technical skills, but when it comes to soft skills such as communication or decision-making and stuff like that, I personally struggle a lot. So that was a really good session that was helpful for me to open up and be more vocal. I wouldn't be doing this podcast without that. So that's a big testament to what was going on at the retreat. It was really helpful and insightful. Some other sessions were also great. Like Christina and Ashley mentioned, there were psychological safety sessions going on, which I wished I was a part of as well. Because I was in another session just across the table and listening to the group of people having that open, vulnerable conversation, I really wished I was a part of that as well. But I did take part in one of the sessions organized by our coworker Rob, which was regarding soliciting and receiving feedback. That was another great opportunity for us to talk about how we can improve the level of trust and the level of communication between teammates and across projects.
Ashley Cyborski
Unfortunately, I missed the first day of the retreat, which was very sad. But for me at least, it was not stressful for that to happen because I knew we had a self-organized structure for the retreat. So I was like, "Oh good, I don't have a presentation set for today or anything like that that I'm going to miss." It really made that a little bit lower stress for me. But then the day that I was there, I hosted a series of conversations about, "If there was a person who was not resourced to any project work and could just help your team, how would you like them to help you?" I had that conversation probably three different ways with a few different types of teams to see what types of help they would need and that sort of thing. And selfishly, it's to help me develop a role I would like to work on, but that was kind of the nice thing. I could use that space to collaborate and build on things I was already working on and thinking about.
Jes Constantine
So like whoever comes, the right people, whatever happens is the only thing that could have happened. We had a conversation where we were talking about how we communicate value delivery in a given scrum ceremony, like a sprint review. The majority of the group was from the same project team. There were a few others though, who were able to share their sort of outside experience. It sort of turned into a very open and vulnerable conversation that again, I think happened because we were there in person and not on camera. We were just talking about where we were, what we're delivering, and how we're delivering it, and how we can iterate. I thought it was a really powerful conversation, and we've started to shift the way that we work together in that ceremony. I don't know that it would've happened, at least in that way, if we hadn't had that conversation. So, it was needed.
jayme johnson
I didn't really go to any of the sessions per se. I learned a word for that "cross-pollinator," I guess. One of the things that I got to experience that was really interesting and unique was the sort of interface of people coming out of the psychological safety session and processing that. And then coming together with the people who did the giving and receiving feedback and seeing how the conversations between those people and what they were carrying with each other into that conversation sort of blossomed into the synthesis of being aware of psychological safety while you're giving and receiving feedback. You can ask somebody if they're in a state of mind to receive feedback, positive or negative. It's such a small thing, and it can go a really long way.
George DeMet
I really appreciate that, jayme, that you did act in that role as a pollinator. It's an important part of the format and helps us tie together and see some of the different themes that were going on. So, for you and the other folks who were able to do that, it was really cool, special, and really appreciated.
Jill Farley
Another key part of the format that wasn't necessarily the individual sessions was that there was a specific space and format held for reflection. As part of the open space technology structure and rules, there's something I think that's called the Daily News. We got the opportunity to have those conversations and sessions in the morning, walk away, have lunch, process things, be social, and relax. Then go do some cool adventure stuff in the mountains and then come back and have reflection time after we took a little break. The cool part about that, I think, which was also a good model for how we do self-organized team work at Palantir, was that it was planned. It had a certain structure and it was intentionally and safely held time for everyone to share. So, sometimes louder voices tend to talk and take up a lot of space in conversations. But that format really made it safe and easy for people who don't usually speak up to reflect on what they heard earlier in the sessions. And we did that in the morning, before the sessions, we did that in the afternoon, and then we had a closing session. I just thought that was a really big part of our synthesis of the stuff that we learned. And also, it kind of helped with FOMO. If you didn't get to go to some of the other sessions, you got to hear the takeaways.
Ashley Cyborski
I wanted to go back to a little bit of what you were saying, jayme. You mentioned that you didn't go to any sessions and that you were a cross-pollinator. I think that alone is something beautiful that we at Palantir have together. Most places, I feel like, if you go to a retreat, you're expected to be at the place on time when you are told, no questions asked. Even if it's not your style, even if you're not interested in it, or even if it's not relevant to you, you're just expected to be there. That stinks. It's really beautiful that, jayme, you can come on the podcast and say that, and we all know it was fine. In fact, it was a good thing that added to our collaboration, not something that took away from it. I just want to capture that because I think it was a really beautiful takeaway.
jayme johnson
I don't want to make it all about Agile or anything here, but the only way that would've been possible is because of the self-organization process. We found where we needed to be out of that little bit of chaos that started in the beginning of the mornings, and it worked.
Ashley Cyborski
And for some people, where that was, was right by the pool.
jayme johnson
Everything is better when you're surrounded by an epically beautiful mountain landscape. It just is.
Ashley Cyborski
And it was breathtaking.
Andy Masullo
Yeah, I had a really interesting moment where we were all in the hot tub, and a particular coworker of mine came up to me and gave me a foot high-five. I was like, "Glad you're here, here's a foot high-five." When our feet struck, it sent me into this realization like, "Oh my gosh, six months ago I was a government contractor." This idea of self-organizing and doing these things we've been talking about didn't exist there. But now, I'm surrounded by the Rockies and I'm with all these beautiful people, talking with them and getting to know them. So any sort of high-five was just great because it made you realize what we've got here.
Ashley Cyborski
I really liked the social activities because it was opt-in, not opt-out, so there was almost zero pressure. There was so much variety horseback riding, a teams challenge with archery and hatchet throwing, and this weird log game that we just don't want to talk about. But it was really fun. Usually, those team-building things I find lame, but we did it, we had fun, and we even made a little cheer. There was a fishing excursion, hikes, bike ride options, and then after-hours stuff like campfires, s'mores, and some epic D&D games. George, in fact, almost got murdered. So, you know, it was just a good time all around, and the food was great, the conversation was great, and the weather was great. It was fabulous.
George DeMet
Yeah, that D&D session was pretty epic, Ashley. And yes, I did almost get murdered, and I believe your character may have also burned down a village. So, we had a great time.
Ashley Cyborski
Oh yeah, we were just using that Wand of Wonder ad hoc whenever we felt like we needed some surprises. We used it.
Malak Desai
Wizard Horse did help us a lot in the D&D games.
Jill Farley
The epic karaoke session that we had was probably my favorite. You know, everybody's got their weird talents and things that they enjoy. Karaoke happens to be one of mine. So I brought my Bluetooth wireless karaoke microphone, and we karaoked well into the night, until about 1230 in the morning. One of my colleagues, who you're lucky to get 10 words out of in a single day, sang two boy band songs. Malak was a backup dancer for one of those. To not be too cheesy about it, but to bring it back home to the connection thing, he actually said to me after that, "I've never shown this side of me to my coworkers." He felt like coming out of his shell, and I felt so special that he was willing to do that. I don't think it would've happened on the first night. The format really allowed us to build up a foundation after the first day. So on the second day, everybody was like, "Let's just do it." We're all vulnerable, we're all weird, and there's nothing that we can really do that's going to embarrass us. It was so awesome.
Ashley Cyborski
It's one of the magic things about Palantir, but more specifically, the people are the magic thing about Palantir. We all just make each other better people. The retreat was the most shining example of that; it sounds cheesy, but it's really true. It's important to all of us that everyone feels safe, and that they can be themselves and bring their value to any conversation, even if they're not an expert. The self-organizing principles we've applied to our work and to the retreat are just prime examples of how true that is. I saw so many people at the retreat step into who they were, and it was great.
Malak Desai
On the first day of the retreat, Lyssa introduced us to the idea of reaching out to one person and discussing what we wished to get out of the retreat, and then moving on to the next person. We had that circle conversation, and one of the things we discussed was wanting to be more open and true to ourselves. At the end of the retreat, we did what we usually do alone at home, but in front of our coworkers. That was truly mind-blowing for myself, and I think it was a great thing to happen at the retreat.
Ashley Cyborski
Is this your way of telling us, Malak, that you boy-band dance through your apartment all day, every day?
Malak Desai
All day, every day? Yes, I do.
Jes Constantine
We talk about having a connection, and Andy said that calls have been different with people than they were before the retreat. It's not just the work that we do; it's the people and the connection that matter. For example, when Christina whips out a deck of Uno cards, game on. She's competitive, and that resonates with me. We never would've known that if we hadn't had the moment to experience that together. Creating the space to talk about not just the work we do, but the people that we are, makes the difference.
Jill Farley
jayme and I got the opportunity to talk about what it's like being tall ladies and where we buy our pants. The organized social activities were awesome, but even just those little one-on-one or groups of two or three people in nooks and crannies throughout the resort allowed us to talk about weird stuff, work stuff, laugh, and tell jokes. My favorite part was being able to relate to things that are outside of work, interests that you may not even know people have. The height thing, I'm just going to come back to it, was such a hilarious experience. It was interesting to see who thought someone was taller or shorter, and it made sense when you saw it.
Christina Hu
I would, uh, want to quickly add to that. The very fact that all of us were able to invite our own family members to the retreat was a beautiful social aspect of this. 'Cause yeah, I got to meet people's partners, their families, their kids, and that was so beautiful. Connecting with their family too, and seeing where you're brought up, your traditions, and the love that you have for your family too, was really something special that I got to experience in this retreat.
George DeMet
So, my last question is, what tips would folks have for others who are looking to organize their retreats? Right. Whether you are someone who works at a company and you know the company is going to be planning a retreat soon, and you want to make some suggestions, or maybe you are someone at the company who's responsible for organizing retreats. I'm going to actually start on this one. My biggest tip is to hire a planner and organizer. We've had several retreats in the past over the years, and this was the first time that we engaged with an outside travel planning professional, Lillian from Hilltop Travel Company, and she was able to take care of so many different things that otherwise would have distracted us from the actual event itself. Whether it was helping people out with travel issues or just the little zillion things that happen that someone needs to talk with someone about something, she was there to take care of it. And so, it really allowed the rest of us to really focus on being there and in the moment and being present.
Ashley Cyborski
Yeah. I loved having Lyssa and Lillian there to help us because it was good to have Lyssa, who's worked with us, but she's not a Palantiri full-time on projects. And so having her there to facilitate as kind of like an unbiased outside perspective to me felt really helpful. And then, yeah, Lillian was amazing. I said I missed my flight. She was texting me, making sure I was all good. And then on top of that, she played D&D with us, which was awesome. My tip for other organizations who are doing a retreat is the key is to listen to what everyone wants to get out of it and don't go into it planning what you want to get out of it. And I think that's really important. If you go in planning it with what you want to get out of it, sure, you'll probably get it, but no one else will get that much. And so by figuring out what everyone wants and focusing around that, even if you don't use the techniques we did, I think that's really important to having a successful retreat.
Jes Constantine
And to your point, Ashley, like even leading up to it, nothing was a surprise to any of us except for how much we were going to enjoy it and get out of it. Right? But like we were able to participate and like, these are some options of where it could be, and we get to sort of vote on where we wanted it to be. And these are some activities that you could do. Which one would you like to do? And just having that be so participatory from the beginning. Even when are folks ready to meet in person again, I just really appreciate how we've been able to have a voice in the planning process from the beginning. Also, I think if you're not someone who is considering organizing a retreat or if you're on the fence, my advice is to do it. To invest that time and space for the people that work with you and for you to connect and bring that social capital that we value back with them to their jobs.
jayme johnson
One of the reemerging themes that was coming up throughout our retreat was that vulnerability can be harnessed into a strength. And I think that idea is sort of maybe what fostered some Palantir's abilities to show sides of themselves that they haven't seen before, have these amazing conversations that were in the interstitial of all the other planned events. And the pro tip for that would just be, if you want to have a really good retreat, foster an environment that allows people to genuinely feel like they're safe to be vulnerable in. And then people won't have to spend as much energy trying to be someone other than who they are, and they can invest that energy in having real experiences with one another.
Ashley Cyborski
I'm going to build on jayme's tip. Make sure you don't just foster that environment at the retreat. You have to foster it everywhere, or it won't work.
Jill Farley
I think depending on who's listening, this may sound like a very foreign concept, you know, like this idea of so much humanness at a work retreat. I think it's a little bit of an advertisement for a more human-centered organizational structure in general. But the retreat was kind of a little microcosm of that. If you allow people to connect on a human level, allow them to bring all of them to their work, you're going to get better results and people are going to work better together, retention is better. You've heard several times that we're working better together since we got back from the retreat. And when you do that more often and you allow space for that and you trust people to be productive and use that to their advantage when they're working, it goes a long way. So to over control, plan, and book to the gills a retreat so you get an ROI from it is a little misguided. Spending more time allowing people to connect and drive their own experience actually is higher ROI. People just come away feeling refreshed and more interested in doing their job.
George DeMet
Thank you all so much for such a great conversation today. We'll be back in a few weeks with another fresh episode. In the meantime, check out our website at palantir.net for more insights. And of course, don't forget to like and subscribe. Thank you.
