I hosted an A Window Between Worlds Workshop at our all-staff retreat this fall. We are an organization of about 400 employees from hospice and home care to grant funded programs that work with survivors of grief and pregnant moms and children. About 200 employees attended the retreat, and about 25 people participated.

To keep it accessible and to encourage traffic, I decided to do the workshop as a drop-in style for all staff during the free time in the afternoon. This allowed people to come and go as they pleased and as they were comfortable. People came in groups of 3-5-10 typically with their friends and direct teams.

I choose the Discovering Your North Star workshop because I did this workshop a few years ago, and it was very impactful and centering for me as a professional, so I wanted to give my team members a similar experience, a moment in time for them to come and reflect on their values and what drives them and the work they do. 

I had the worksheets printed off in advance and we had lots of colorful and fun felt tip pens for folks to use spread about the room. My co-workers on my team said they really enjoyed the activity, and one of them told me, “We should do more of these activities.” She excitedly asked us to all put our stars in the center, and we took a picture. It was fun to see all the different colors and the values folks chose to include.

As we all colored our stars, people shared what values meant to them, and what they were worried about, what they hoped for, and what they wanted for the future.