Insights from CITE’s Organizational Retreat 2025
Many of you attend “Admin” or “Cabinet” retreats over the summer. These can be informative and inspiring or boring and grueling. Like your organization, the CITE Board and staff came together on July 17th for an organizational retreat and it was amazing. We built an agenda that was focused on putting our members at the center of all we do and encouraged communication, collaboration, and ideas for the future of CITE.
CITE Board & Staff Clifton Strengths Exercise
We began with an exercise using our Clifton Strengths results. Clifton Strengths is a tool designed to provide insights into individual and team strengths. It offers information that can be used for self-understanding and collaboration. Although individuals may share similar strengths, their application of these strengths can vary. Reviewing results together can facilitate improved communication and teamwork. Staff members were paired with Board members or other staff members for this activity. Various observations and insights were gained from the process.
Marketing Team Update
Next, our Marketing Team facilitated an exercise to help us better understand our diverse membership by building profiles such as “Jane the Joiner”, “Renee the Reluctant”, “Manny the Middle Manager”, and “Nate the Newbie”. Using input from staff and board experiences, we identified each group's needs and discussed how they might respond to CITE’s programs and communications. We emphasized clear and consistent messaging, summarized by our motto: “Do good work and tell people about it!”—the reason behind this blog.
Meeting Wrap-Up
We then engaged in a consultancy protocol exercise to discuss the prospective CITE member. The discussion focused on preparing for the evolving needs of future members, identifying key priorities, assessing available data, and determining additional information requirements. It was encouraging to witness strong collaboration between the Board and staff, with active participation fostering a constructive and supportive environment.
We finished the day talking about all the exciting things around our 65th Annual Conference. Pay attention to some exciting announcements for the events that will help us celebrate this huge milestone!
