Certified wholly women-owned business Outstanding Branding, a global distributor of promotional merchandise, revitalised its annual company conference this month and introduced their very first OBcon.

Held off-site at the impressive Devere Theobalds Estate for a full day and night, OBcon was designed to put the global team firmly in the centre and firmly in the picture – the morning session not only reviewed the previous year, but more importantly outlined the Directors’ vision for the next three years.  It also featured the management team presenting detailed plans of how the coming 12 months were shaping up, and how the goals were going to be achieved.

“Clarity and transparency is just so important to me”, commented CEO Sarah Penn. “We want our team – all of our team, not just the managers – to really have a clear vision of where the company is going in the coming years.  Just as important as the vision, however, are the shorter-term goals, and we need to be clear what each person needs to do for us to collectively achieve them.
As a global company, it was vital for the team from the US to be involved – so we ensured that they all flew over and spent the week in the UK.  This meant that not only did they attend the conference, but also had the rest of the week in the UK office, learning and sharing expertise amongst the team.  They also got the opportunity to do some sightseeing and make the most of London’s many photo opportunities!”.

Andy Thorne, Sales & Marketing Director, continued “As the team will have seen at OBcon, the vision involves some quite significant sales growth over the next three years, and crucially, how that’s going to be achieved.  The numbers might seem punchy, but in conjunction with our fantastic management team, we know specifically what steps we all need to take to get there”.

As well as giving the opportunity as always for each team member to set personal and professional goals for the coming year, as well as revealing how they achieved against the previous years, the morning was an opportunity for reflection and congratulation on the success of the previous year.

The afternoon of the conference was kindly sponsored by some of our top suppliers – Desktop Ideas, Essential Embroidery, Laltex, and The Umbrella Company – who each sponsored a Zone in the Crystal Maze themed tasks.

“We wanted to put on an afternoon event that challenged our team members’ communication and team work skills,” explained Fred Goozee, Schemes Manager.  “The great variety of tasks, physical and cerebral, allowed everyone to work to their strengths and work together”.

 

Published on: July 31st, 2018