Once a year, our fully remote team makes the annual pilgrimage to St. Louis, Missouri for a week of professional development sessions, teambuilding, and good old-fashioned fun. This annual event offers the only occasion many of us have to see each other together in person.
So much has happened since the last time we all met in St. Louis! In the spirit of continuous development, we’ve expanded our PritikinLIVE offering, developed new and improved educational materials, opened many new licensed facilities, and welcomed new folks to the team.
We spent the bulk of our time together in a workshop lead by Julie Hoff of Cultivate HR where we explored our individual CliftonStrentgths assessments. By recognizing and understanding our individual strengths and those of others on our team, we learned how to better appreciate each other’s unique talents. While our employees are second to none, not one of us excel at all the myriads of skills and strengths needed to make Pritikin ICR shine. It’s through our combined efforts that we’re able to live our mission to enhance healthcare delivery and extend the healthspan of patients through evidence-based lifestyle education.
After participating in several small group and peer-to-peer guided discussions and worksheets, we learned actionable tools to help us each excel at what we are already good at. And, conversely, when it might be more productive to reach out to someone else on the team who is better equipped to take on some aspect of a project. The workshop concluded with us each sharing some of the best things we learned about each other. Thanks to the various exercises Julie guided us through, we came away from this professional development session with a renewed appreciation for our team.
After each day of professional development, we all got together for a casual dinner. The first evening, we took our annual group picture (above) after enjoying the beautiful weather, gardens, food and drinks at Bishop’s Post.
While the team dinner the second evening was no surprise, the after-dinner entertainment was unexpected! After dinner at 4 Hands Brewing Co., we walked up the way to Game Show Battle Rooms. There, we divided into teams and went head-to-head to see who would emerge as our Game Show champions.
Setting aside time for moments of laughter and joy is important to maintain a healthy mind-set. We practice what we preach!
Lake Day!
To cap off the week, the Pritikin ICR team ventured to Rhineland, Missouri where we enjoyed a day in the great outdoors, made all the better by fantastic food, perfect weather, and amazing company.
This year’s professional development and teambuilding events helped to reaffirm that we really do hire big hearts – not only that, each one of us comes to the table with a wonderfully diverse set of skills. Working together, we are able to make a real difference in countless lives of cardiac rehabilitation patients all over the country!
Every single person on our nationwide team (scattered across the country from California to Virginia) is dedicated to inspiring and empowering all people and communities to live heart-healthy lives, eager to lend a helping hand, and excited to plan for our continued growth. We are grateful to have shared another meaningful and memorable week together and are looking forward to next year!