In 2023, the Academy engaged in the Novalia Collective’s joy-based design process to examine and redesign the marketing and onboarding materials as well as the curriculum and field school experience. As part of the process, we embraced three mindset shifts that we regularly integrate into what we do and who we are as an organization. These three aspects have allowed us to begin and deepen our work on belonging as a pillar of the Academy experience.

Planning a company retreat is an exciting endeavor that holds the promise of team-building, innovation, and renewed energy. However, without careful consideration, intentional, and creative planning, it's easy to stumble into common pitfalls that can undermine the retreat's effectiveness. In this post, we'll explore five major mistakes companies often make while planning retreats and provide practical solutions to ensure your next retreat is energizing, inspiring, and effective.

This is my body (TIMB) was and is so much more than an artistic collective. It was sisterhood, acceptance, vulnerability, new beginnings and rebirth in one bundle. I only have beautiful things to recount of my time working and performing with this community. I think the coolest part was how I got a very unique lens of the growth that each of us went through in this program. I watched myself as I worked through multitudes, and it was so inspiring witnessing each artist go through their own hero’s journey in the process.

We started the Novalia Collective because we wanted our work to authentically align to our values. Despite having rewarding career experiences, there were parts of our identity and values that we did have to check at the door because it didn’t match with what was expected. Even as we navigate our work today, we constantly have to revisit our values to ensure we’re doing work that is meaningful to us with partners who also share in our core values.

As we get ready to welcome in the new year, it’s with immense joy and gratitude that we reflect on the incredible journey we’ve embarked upon together at the Novalia Collective. 2023 has been a year of growth, collaboration, and meaningful impact, and we are excited to share some of our most memorable moments with you.

Last summer, we spent a week in Pennsylvania with a partner organization that engages high school aged students to become Conservation Ambassadors. We wanted to immerse ourselves in the experience to support them in their journey to diversify the program. The field school we attended was focused on Pennsylvania’s state fish, the brook trout.

Growing up in Little Saigon, a suburban ethnic enclave in Southern California, I didn’t spend much time in nature. The idea of “driving 20 miles to go walk up a mountain” seemed like a waste of time and gas to my refugee family who were sharing one used car and working multiple jobs. At the time, it was easier in my community to get on a bus that would take you to a casino than to a nearby nature preserve. It wasn’t until I reached adulthood that I realized just how nurturing and healing being in the outdoors and spending time in nature could be.

People want to feel a sense of belonging and connection. Dr. john a. powell, Director of the Othering & Belonging Institute, states: “The human condition is one about belonging. We simply cannot thrive unless we are in relationship.” In today’s shifting workforce, people are no longer just looking at the vision and mission of an organization, but also desire a work environment that reflects their values and promotes a sense of belonging. It’s more important than ever for companies to foster a sense of community and belonging amongst their staff.

We often hear of bad managers — people who micromanage, take credit for work that they didn’t do, and throw their employees under the bus to protect themselves. We’ve all had bad managers who made our lives difficult. But what about great managers? As the one year anniversary of the “Great Resignation” of 2021 rolls by, we at the Novalia Collective reached out to our community to learn about great managers — the ones whose everyday actions are positively impacting their team.

As we continue to search for the ideal return-to-work situation for employees who have been working remotely over the past year and a half, there is one consistently agreed upon fact — that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. In an effort to continually support managers and decision-makers with resources to navigate the return-to-the-workplace discussion, we put together a panel of three managers from different industries to share how they are rethinking the future of their workplace.

A few years ago I was at a conference where the keynote speaker asked us to close our eyes and think about all the things we loved and who we wanted to be when we were younger. Even with my eyes closed, I could feel the smiles emerging across the room. Then the speaker asked us to think about all the times that someone told us that we couldn’t do something or dictated who we had to be. She asked us to think about who we had then become and how much of ourselves we had left behind each time the world forced us to. I think about that question often.

For the past year, we’ve been working with our partners and collaborators to envision their ideal workplace. We found it surprising that many people had trouble thinking about what they wanted their workplace to look and feel like. Employees are often being tested on if they fit into the existing structures and systems. Most companies have moved away from the term “culture fit” and instead have shifted to “culture add” yet this assumes that there is already a pre-established culture and that there is someone determining whether or not you add to it.

As more people in the United States are vaccinated and cities open up again to resume “business as usual,” so are organizations as they focus on preparing for in-person interactions again. Unfortunately, the racial reckoning that many hoped would come has not. If anything, we continue to see the same racial and social injustices happening in our public domain, communities, and places of work. If you’re feeling the slow simmer or burnout of DEI efforts at your organization, here are some tips to help your team reset for the second half of the year.

Now more than ever, I see how crucial it is for us to intentionally build spaces that center people and their well-being. We need to move beyond reactionary words and promises and begin building trust and relationship with one another. The easiest way to do that is to allocate time and resources towards it now, and not when there is another tragedy or public outcry. There is a lot about the pandemic and social injustices that we cannot change immediately, but for now, we can create communities of collective care to support one another to at least get through them.

When tackling complex transformative changes, it can feel overwhelming and insurmountable. Over the years, our personal and professional experiences have unearthed patterns in what it looks like to engage in the long-term work of creating something new, whether in oneself, a group, or an organization. By taking manageable steps and visualizing how it can look holistically, we can better assess our progress, manage our expectations, and dream radically. We use this approach for all our engagements and hope that it helps you in thinking about your own transformative change.