Normally at this time of the year we’re heading to Minneapolis or Chicago for a few days of training with many other Express offices in the Midwest. We head to the event on Thursday morning and then train in the afternoon, all day Friday, and Saturday morning. In between the training we get a lot of time together as a team, usually doing a team dinner and spending some quality time together.

Due to COVID this wasn’t an option so our Express franchisor found a way to get us as close to that even as possible. We’ve got training throughout most of the week to keep us up to date on new ways to better serve our associates, clients, teammates, and communities. All the training is virtual via Zoom.

At the end of last week Becky made a comment about how beautiful the weather was supposed to be this week. The forecast was showing a sunny and hot start to Fall today and tomorrow. The lightbulbs went off and next thing we knew there was an awesome idea hatching…

Seeing as the training is virtual we can do it just about anywhere. With beautiful weather why not find a way to be outside? What if there was a different way to get some time bonding with my teams? Hmm…

With very short notice we figured out a way to take the teams out on the pontoon to the sandbar while social distancing. Using our mobile hotspots on our phones we were able to catch all of our trainings online while also having time to talk, share training ideas, and spend time getting to know each other better.

How awesome to find a way to share time as a team, spend some time on the water, get some sun, and still get some great training? It certainly didn’t hurt that we had some of the best weather I can remember to start the Fall.

COVID may change our plans, it is up to us to find ways to use it to our advantage. We certainly found a great way to roll with it today!

Thanks!!!