Last week we spent three days in Palm Springs on our EHD “spring” team retreat, which was a big old success and admittedly way different than most “normal” company’s offsites. Like, when we tell people who have a more typical office culture what we did, there tends to be a lot of “wait, what?” and perhaps some raised eyebrows. I wouldn’t say there are extreme HR violations, but certainly some risks. My goal with these team retreats is 3-fold: macro company planning, IRL connection, and good old-fashioned fun. We all feel incredibly lucky to like each other so much (in fact, Marlee and Gretch flew down early to hang with Jess and Mallory the weekend before, which absolutely warmed my den-mother heart). So here’s a peek into what we did and why.

First off, please note that I did not force my team to wear EHD merch (not that I wouldn’t do that). It was actually Mal’s Christmas present to all of us that she ordered on Etsy. They are legit so cute!!!!

We rented a hilariously “trendy” house in Palm Springs that was seemingly designed for Instagram selfies (we are near Coachella after all). We usually try to stay somewhere really design-forward and inspiring (like The Carly or our house in Mexico). But it was hard to find a house with 5 bedrooms (at least) and a proper hangout zone (pool/sauna/bbq) and felt appropriately fun. Palm Springs is great because Portland has direct flights to PS, and it’s easy for the LA crew to drive out (plus us PNW folk need the sun!!).

Kaitlin and I arrived Tuesday night, and we were greeted with burgers on the grill and a super chill night in before our big planning day. Caitlin drove out that day from LA, and after the year she has had, we were all so happy to see her smiling face in person. That girl is nothing short of a warrior. After a few reunion hugs and drinks, I always make myself go to bed early and do a workout the next morning since “I am in charge” (as I like to jokingly repeat, not to wield my power but to literally remind myself that I’m the one who is supposed to be the leader, here). Just because I’m the oldest, most experienced, and my name is on the door doesn’t mean I always know what I’m doing here or want to be the boss. I will feel 27 for the rest of my life, folks.

Day 1: The Planning Session

Our agenda for this trip was 1. The new website design, 2. Our social strategy (and workflow), 3. Larger new partnerships, 4. Blog brainstorm and planning. As well as lots of sofa line talk and catching up on the minutiae. We have team calls 3-4 hours a week, and I meet with the Portland folk consistently, but in person is just so much more inspiring, and we can really dig into things that start to feel exhausting to do on Zoom. As a reminder, playing the role of Emily Henderson (aka the one that is “in charge”), Gretchen is my #2 on all things creative design and production (my ride or die), Jess is our editorial director and oversees product lines (celebrating 10 years this year!), Caitlin handles partnerships and revenue, and Marlee and Mal own all things social (well, except YouTubes, which Gretchen is involved in). Since almost everything we do involves all of the above, we all know every part of the business.

It’s been a full year of having two fantastic full-time people on social media (including our new newsletter – sign up here!). Marlee started in Portland last January and has been an incredible addition to capture my every move up here, and Mal, still in CA, focuses on what can be done from afar (there is so much work). She has reduced to four days a week to focus on her burgeoning influencer career (follow her here!). So, figuring out workflow and who does what, when, is crucial, and since we don’t have someone in charge of operations (that’s me!), everyone is part of that conversation. I rely on them to tell me how they think it would work best for both them and the company (an HR hack that I think everyone appreciates). So they put together an incredible presentation about our goals, strategy, and execution, with all our “highs” and “learnings” along with all the new stuff they are excited to try. I wanted to cry, I was so impressed, but instead just said out loud, “Thank you so much – I feel so safe!!” Maybe something only a small business owner needs to feel (wrong, everyone does). But man, knowing and trusting that other people are on top of things is the best feeling as a leader. Social is not where I thrive or want my brain to really live for too many hours every day, so as you can imagine, I’m sooo thankful for the support and expertise of people who love digging into it.

Speaking of! For the blog (which is the real reason for the season for me) We’ve hired a new website designer, which is so exciting. But before getting too far in the weeds, we had to really identify what categories we want to keep, how we want to show our past work, and essentially how we want the website to flow, which is easiest for both daily readers and people landing and trying to find design resources. The wonderful and magical Jess is heading that up with Caitlin and Gretch, who understand our readers’ behavior (YOU!) really well. I’m really excited about the changes. Right now, there’s just too much, and people are barely using so much of the site, so it will be WAY more streamlined, along with some new features that we are excited to use ourselves.

We talked through more sofa and furniture line, both designs and some marketing ideas (good news, more colors and sizing coming VERY soon in our most popular sofas (Oscar, Barb, Alice, and Milo), with new designs in the works.

Caitlin’s sweet face captured – in water with a Diet Coke is what she needed:) She would be a fish if she had her way!

Then we accidentally called a Karaoke Uber car. I saw the microphones next to me in the front seat and asked, “What are these for?” He said, “Karaoke,” like I was dumb. So we embraced it for the 15 minutes to dinner, and we kept his number to have him take us home.

We had dinner at Mr. Lyons, a fancy and very cool classic steakhouse with delicious martinis. This is where I opened the conversation about my “value system” as if that’s a normal thing to just talk about over dinner and martinis. I have been reading Brené Brown for years, and a while ago, I explored her Dare to Lead Value System. I think I finally dialed it in. This is a program that she does for a lot of leaders to help them identify their personal and company values and then help them to operationalize them. In the past, I got stumped, not being able to narrow it down past 5 words (it’s WAY harder than it seems). But she claims that you can only choose 2, and no, they aren’t different when you are at home or at work. These are the things that you are willing to sacrifice all else for, good or bad. These are what drive you and what is really the most important to you. Mine are “fun” and “connection”. While hard work, integrity, and kindness are up there, if I’m really honest with myself, I like all of those things only if fun and connection are somehow involved. I really, really like people to have a good time, to feel good, to create an atmosphere inside of work, at home, and on the blog that feels fun and where people feel connected. When I’m not connected to readers, to my team, to my husband, kids, etc., I feel a deep sense of sadness and negativity. It’s also why I hate small talk, and if you meet me IRL, expect to go deep real fast. For me, it’s a great way to focus a bit – I need to make sure that my team has fun, too, and that you guys really enjoy being here. And then we talked a lot about why communication is so deeply important to me, especially our long-distance relationship, which leads to deeper, you guessed it, connection. 🙂

Anyway, if you are in a leadership position, I highly recommend buying Dare to Lead or even just head to her website and go through the practice. She has helped me so much. P.S. I’m not particularly great at the “Rumbling With Vulnerability” – still working on that one, IYKYK).

As you can see, our house wanted in on the fun, with some inspirational quotes… And then we all masked up and watched Love is Blind’s new season (SO GOOD).

Day 2: Our Creative Workshop

The second day was meant for connecting by having some fun together. Sometimes we go vintage shopping or wine tasting, but this time I wanted to do something more growth-oriented. So I hired my friend Jen, who is one of the most creative people I know and has spent the last 6 years deep in art therapy, to conduct a creative workshop with us. She has told me a lot about the complete healing and unlocking she has had through doing art in a really childlike way – just tapping into the part of us that creates without judgment or perfectionism (which is admittedly really hard for me). She’s also one of the most emotionally generous, kind, vulnerable, funny, supportive, and creative people on the planet. If you need a cheerleader or a hype girl, she’s it. Follow her on IG here if you’d like.

She brought a ton of materials and a whole library to inspire us. We perused them while she walked us through her journey. It was deeply personal and yet universal. And she has an ease and warmth about her that makes you feel really open and comfortable.

We started by scribbling and just being really free with color and material. I’m not going to walk you through what we did; most of you likely think this is totally weird anyway (it was!), but it was incredibly enjoyable, relaxing, and inspiring. And doing it together felt so nice. Our team is especially great at giving each other compliments, saying “great job” at their individual projects, so this was no different. Lots of love spread around.

There was zero expectation at making good art, and most of us fought over the same paint markers (so satisfying, its all I want to use now).

Things Got Weird

By the end of the day (with two apperal spritz) we had all made these mixed media 3D goggles that help us see the future. As you do. We laughed and smiled all day.

I laugh out loud every time I see these pictures. Not because we made them, but because we made them during the work day on a team retreat. I know that some people would rather die than do this with their co-workers. We have a very special group of women (all of whom love to craft) and are so comfortable with each other that I knew it would be a huge hit.

We crafted by the pool all day while talking, sipping on Aperol Spritzes and making these ridiculously fun masks that will help us see the future, for sure. As Gretchen put it, that was the “best day of life ever,”… meaning, not just of work.

I think I said, “I am just so lucky to be doing this today, with all of you,” over and over. I know how unique this is, to have a team this close and to be successful enough as a company to book out these retreats and splurge on three days of total fun (and yes, neglect our jobs). These ladies work so hard for this company, so these trips are to thank them, and to celebrate and make sure they don’t leave me!! We walked to sushi that night at Sandfish, finished the Love is Blind episodes (the new season is excellent), and flew home the next day feeling overwhelmed with gratitude for my team. We all really appreciated the comments from last week’s post (the almost selling the business one) and know that we wouldn’t be here if you guys weren’t. So thank you again, always, for being here and giving us your time, attention, and feedback. We value it more than you know. xx, Emily

*The Prettier Photos by our wonderful Kaitlin Green (honorary EHD team member:))