Kangaroo Island

Garry and I recently took time out of the business for a three-day strategic planning offsite. It's been four years since we acquired Artiwood. During this time we've progressively worked towards, and ultimately achieved, almost every long-term goal we set ourselves in 2015.  This includes a comprehensive rollout of new back office systems, an all-new website, new policies and procedures, a new corporate identity, our first staff hire, and growth that's seen see us double the size of the business.

Having achieved so much, the time is right to set some fresh goals. I worry that we’ll start drifting and erode the potential of our business without a clear and compelling long term vision. We need a new roadmap for the next four years. Once that’ll focus us on the right priorities to continue evolving and growing our business. 

In all my years as senior manager, I’ve found that physically separating an executive team from the daily grind always pays dividends. Therefore, with so much at stake, Garry and I decided to go somewhere remote, with limited internet access, where we could step back from the day-to-day distractions and find time to truly think outside the box. 

After some debate, we settled on Kangaroo Island.  We secured a superb deal at the highly-rated Southern Ocean Lodge that included a meal plan, daily excursions to the island's most scenic locations, and a meeting space where we could close the door and go deep into the business without interruption. The island proved to be an inspiring choice. We spent three, highly productive, days alternating between mind-cleansing encounters with nature and comprehensive, often passionate, strategic planning sessions - one of which ran late into the night.  

The blend of fresh sea air and refreshing coastal views has worked its magic. We've returned from our offsite with an exciting new four-year vision. If all goes according to plan, by 2023 we'll have a business that's doubled in size again, we'll be running it from a Sydney showroom, have a new website in place, and have a key account manager on board to help us secure and maintain new corporate accounts. Let's see what happens next!

Until then, here are a few images from our time on Kangaroo Island.

PS: The Remarkable Rocks really are remarkable. We were also incredibly lucky with the weather during our entire time on Kangaroo Island. We woke to blue skies and light winds most days making excursions like our morning visit to the Rocks all the more memorable.