Operational Planning retreat unfolds at Blue Mountain
James Partington

COLLINGWOOD, Ont. - Toward the end of Day 1 at the Schlegel Villages operational planning retreat, which draws leadership team members together from across the organization to the Blue Mountain Inn outside Collingwood for three days of collaboration, discovery and visioning, chief operating officer Bob Kallonen shared a thought with the group.

Team members shared a host of innovative ideas during an event at Schlegel Villages operational planning retreat.

“The essence of leadership is a profound dissatisfaction with what is,” he said.

There is much for the organization to be proud of, he explained, but in order to continually evolve as individuals, teams and an organization, innovation must never cease.

“The best approach to senior living has yet to be invented,” Bob said, and as team members mingled in the ballroom on the morning of Day 2, during a mock Middle Eastern bazaar, with each village acting as merchants selling their ideas to the highest bidder, a better understanding of what it means to be innovative came forth.

The Schlegel Marketplace was a living example of what collaboration and idea-sharing looks like when done in a new and fun way.

At other operational planning retreats in previous years, each village stood before a podium and microphone to share a success story with the group. It was interesting to many, but it wasn’t interactive and not everyone sitting in an audience absorbed all the information.

The marketplace event was alive and full of creative energy as people buzzed about at will offering fists full of fake money to their favourite ideas.

There was laughter and shouting and amid the chaos, there were several ideas that were immediately absorbed by the team.

“We wanted to create an environment which will be fun and interactive, where people will shop, buy and sell their ideas to the highest bidder,” says Ash Agarwal, one of the key organizers of the operational planning retreat.

He makes note of the creativity and passion he sees within the team as it commits to the ongoing journey to change the culture of aging in our communities, and how that creativity shone during the marketplace.

The concept was introduced to team members a week before they presented, Ash notes, and he was thrilled with how well it went.

“It was just phenomenal, the energy in there and the excitement in there. I couldn’t ask for anything better.

He says the next step upon returning from the retreat will be to share all the ideas in the online Schlegel Marketplace, the new platform recently launched that connects team members across the organization.

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