2015 Planning Retreat

By: Olivia Zeidner

On February 20, 2015, Sullivan Engineering held our 2nd annual planning retreat at the Sheraton Hotel in Parsippany, NJ. The day was filled with presentations on our vision, human resources, project management, culture and leadership. We discussed our long and short term goals, new ideas to implement and ways to improve.

During Brianas aVisiona presentation, he discussed how our team got to where we are now, and how we will continue to grow in the decades to come. He also discussed our specific goals, our target markets and what type of recruiting will be required to support these goals.

After the aVisiona presentation, Olivia presented on human resources, including appropriate dress codes and office discussions. She also outlined our internal agenda, and how to successfully implement the policies we currently have in place.

Mikeas aProject Management Playbooka presentation was next. He discussed professional guidelines, our role on a project, behaviors and actions of project managers, and tools and techniques for on-site communication. And as usual, Mike was sure to throw in quite a few jokes.

Adam then presented aCultivating an Effective Culturea, discussing the behaviors of our team members and the meanings that we attach to those behaviors. Adam reviewed our espoused company culture, including our collective values, beliefs and principles. He demonstrated the many benefits of a positive culture. During the interactive presentation, Adam discussed how our culture shapes our customer service and our organizational capabilities.

During lunch, we played aSullivan Engineering Jeopardya, which brought out the competitor in all of us. Some of the categories included aHistorya, aClientsa and aAwkward Momentsa.

After lunch, we discussed  our aInspirational Leadersa, which was followed by Kevinas presentation on aLeadershipa. What is leadership, who are our leaders and how we can emulate their qualities were a few of the questions Kevin answered. Most importantly, understanding and building relationships with those you lead was also covered.

To close out the day, we all participated in aBlue Sky Thininga, a method of throwing new ideas and suggestions into an open discussion. As we went around the conference table and shared our thoughts and ideas, Brian categorized them into aBenefitsa, aHuman Resourcesa, aMarketinga, aSalesa, aTechnicala, etc. Once we filled several pages with ideas, we collaboratively discussed how to implement them, ending the day in a forward thinking, motivational way.