Several years back I was on a train from Kiama travelling up to Sydney reading an article in CEO Magazine (not my usual and preferred reading choice I must say) and came across an excellent article entitled ‘Stay Energised’ by journalist Nikki Fogden-Moore.
The content and the message resonated so clearly with me on a number of levels and what I was seeing on a daily basis through my consulting work with leaders, senior executives and management per se, regardless of industry. These highly-paid individuals were working long hours, juggling numerous responsibilities and for most of them, this included being a mother, father, wife or husband with little or no proper balance in their lives. The stress levels were through the roof.
Continuing in this way and at that pace was clearly and obviously unsustainable and was likely to deliver only one probable outcome in the shape of serious health issues. A lot of them already looked tired and unwell.
Striking a healthy balance between embracing a successful and fulfilling career with proper downtime and a concentrated focus on health and general wellbeing needed to be the focus and before it was too late. This is where my notion and inspiration for developing time and a place for these leader-types to recharge, refresh and get some time for healthy reflection first materialised.
Dividing this recharge time between conversation and focus around health, nutrition, fitness and mental wellbeing and then time on business, leadership development and people management I envisaged 3 days of healthy, selfish individual and personal time; something totally fulfilling and (re)energising. Collaboration, building new relationships and friendships would also be on the agenda. And plenty of fun. And time for just sitting and talking.
Our goal is to have every single person leaving every single retreat with a renewed energy and vigour for both their business and personal lives and a focus on what’s really important to them and those around them. No problem if everyone who attends develops a bit of a healthy, selfish ruthlessness in their approach. At the end of the day if the individual is happy then the impact they have on everyone else will be positive. It will be a genuine win-win outcome.
How do we achieve this? By not delivering something that people are used to and have attended before. Not a corporate-style, hotel event where people can on occasions, feel like hostages and being ‘presented to’ via hours of PowerPoint. We’ve all been there and my challenge is to always ask what you actually took away and have since usefully employed and built into your lives (to make them significantly better)?
The Nickell Business Coaching Retreats are packed with inspirational individuals and their stories coupled with practical strategies and approaches designed to make people think differently. From health and wellbeing experts to explorers to Olympic gold medallists and business entrepreneurs, the retreats cover all of the bases and are guaranteed to provide 3 days of inspiration and energy. Then it’s up to the individual to turn that inspiration into motivation and massive action.
The venues we have chosen for the retreats are beautiful, unique and perfect for thinking time, reflection and recharging. Simply perfect.
The first retreat will be in the Melbourne region at the end of March followed soon after by one in the beautiful Kangaroo Valley region of NSW in early April.
