Creatik turns 18: stepping back to move forward

There aren’t many opportunities when you’re running a busy studio to stop. There’s always another deadline, client request, new business opportunity or problem to solve. Which is exactly why our annual Creatik offsite has become such an important moment in our year. It gives us a chance to step away from the office, spend proper time together and realign around the bigger picture.

This year was particularly special because Creatik turns 18.

Looking back at the real story

We started our offsite by looking back at the true timeline of Creatik. When you’ve been in business since 2008, it’s easy to reduce the story to the highlights: the great clients, brilliant work, awards, growth and milestones. But that’s never the whole story of a business.

Our timeline included the harder periods, the decisions that changed our direction, the people who have come through our doors, the moments that tested us and the lessons that have shaped how we work today.

Seeing 18 years laid out in front of us was a reminder that businesses don’t grow in a straight line. Every chapter contributes something to the next one.

Getting our heads in the right place

We were lucky to have Jamie Crowe from Last First Step join us to talk about mindset and high performance. It was a great opportunity to move the conversation beyond business strategy and think about the role each of us plays in our own performance. Because ambitious goals are one thing. Having the mindset, behaviours and resilience to achieve them is another.

Jamie challenged us to think differently about how we respond to pressure, how we manage our thinking and what separates simply being busy from performing at our best.

Leadership at every level

Sally then led us through leadership workshops and goal setting. As Creatik has evolved, leadership has become increasingly important across the whole studio. It’s not something that sits with a job title or a handful of people. It’s about taking ownership, making good decisions, supporting the people around you and understanding how the work you do contributes to something bigger.

We spent time connecting our individual and team goals back to the broader Creatik strategy, so everyone could see the role they play in where we’re heading next. That alignment is ultimately what the offsite is about. Taking the business strategy out of a document and making it something we collectively understand, believe in and can act on.

And then we turned 18

Of course, you can’t spend an entire offsite talking about high performance and strategic alignment. Creatik is officially 18, which meant we were finally old enough to hit the Vegas strip. Or at least dress like we were.

Hotel TOTTO was our home base and was brilliant. Our new Creatik hoodies, courtesy of XLR8 Apparel, got their first outing. And there may have been a visit to the Illawarra Hotel, better known to some as the Illa Killa.

What happens at the Creatik offsite...

The next chapter

After 18 years, one of the things I know for certain is that you need moments like these. Time to get out of the weeds. Time to remember where you’ve come from.

Time to have the conversations you don’t have when everyone is focused on delivery.

And time to make sure the people building the business understand where it’s going and feel part of getting it there.

We came back to the studio with clearer goals, a shared sense of direction and plenty of energy for what comes next. Creatik has grown and changed enormously since 2008. And we’re nowhere near finished yet.