1st ever UL work retreat and team building

“Take care of your employees and your employees will take care of your business” Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin Group, entrepreneur. 

Unmanned Life echoes this quote and has proved repeatedly, that it is an organisation which values its employees and recognises the hard work each one of them puts in making Unmanned Life one of the top companies to look out for in the AI and Robotics industry. This time, they took the opportunity to gather every team member from different geographies into one beautiful chateau in Spain. And this is how the company retreat began! 

It started with a lavish breakfast with breath taking views of the luscious green lands in Girona, Spain. The team wandered off to look around and was overwhelmed by the choices of sports to play at the location. We had a well-planned agenda covering presentations and activities focused on team building and thought-provoking ideas. The first session started with Frank Floessel Chairman of the Board bei flovtec, Entrepreneur, Investor and Coach where he talked about the values of the company and what it means to Unmanned Life. It was amazing to see how moral values and ethics incorporated to the business model can take the company to the next level. Frank’s next session was a team bonding exercise to collectively decide what should stop, continue, and start in the company. 

CEO working with the wider team during Frank’s session on values 

After the 2 thought-stirring sessions by Frank, it was time to put on the Pirate hats and prepare for the treasure hunt. Divided in 4 teams the aim of the hunt was to find and solve clues to open the chest of treasures, in our case a bottle of rum and chocolate coins. The best part about these activities and the whole retreat was that the management team was connecting with the wider members of the company in a playful and jovial environment.  

CTO, Kim Clement concentrating hard to unlock the chest of treasures. 

The winners flaunting their treasures in its full glory. The joy can be seen through their victorious smiles. 

After a long discussion by losing teams of how we could have done things differently and efficiently to win the hunt, we all made our way to the meeting room for another stimulating Keynote with Tessy Antony de Nassau FinTech and Private company Investor, Charity and Corporate Executive, Consultant, Podcast host, Professional Speaker on inspiring leadership.  

“It was an absolute pleasure for me as business consultant to work with the whole team of Unmanned Life. The whole team was an absolute delight to work with. I was able to relive my experiences from my 5 years military career and adapt these to the experiences of this new and innovative company.”  Tessy Antony De Nassau – Charity and Corporate Executive 

It was great to see and know about Tessy’s journey and how she aced everything from business to motherhood. Strong women like her are an inspiration for everyone. With the end of her session, it was now time for dinner. Spoilt for choices we stuffed ourselves with the tasty cuisine and got ready for the after-dinner cocktail party.  

“Work hard play hard! I believe this can really tell a lot about our company culture – we are a bunch of very hard-working individuals who are all steering towards the same goal & vision and doing all with a pinch of fun time and laughter.” Ieva Matenaite – Business Development Manager

The same night we also had Unmanned Life’s unique and fun employee recognition award ceremony. The whole team personally voted for the rightful team member in the chosen categories before the retreat began. After dinner, Tessy announced the winners with drum rolls and loud cheers by the overly exciting team followed by pictures and some more laughter. Karaoke was the highlight of the night with everyone singing their hearts out and losing their voices in the process. A night to remember, it was simply amazing and just like that Day 1 had gone by.  

Next morning, we had the final session with Nicholas Zylberglajt – CEO of Unmanned Life, on 2022 roadmap and key milestones. This was a great session which allowed the entire team to see how the efforts of everyone are combined to form the business. The discussion opened room for questions that were satisfyingly answered by the Management Team.  

“This was our first ever team retreat and it was key and necessary. Key to celebrate the incredible group of human people that makes Unmanned Life thrive. And necessary to reminds us how important it is to have FaceTime in an era of remote working, constant deployments and travels and sustained growth. I am so energised by this that I can’t wait to go to the next one! I can only say thank you to the team.” Nicholas Zylberglajt – CEO 

Now comes the activity, the whole team was revving about. It was time for GO KARTING! We are all a friendly lot but when it comes to winning, everyone is competitive in this company. And perhaps it is the same trait that has gotten us this far in the tech industry. The roaring sound of engines got everyone thrilled and with our helmets on, it was now time for some serious business. The top 3 racers were on a fast and furious mode to say the least. Business analyst, Dominic Morris was 1st, followed by our CTO Kim Clement at the 2nd position and Nacho Conde, our network and cloud engineer in the 3rd place.  

“Our competitive nature was on full show, with a great race to cap off a fantastic week! I knew the team was full of quick thinkers, but I never knew the team was full of quick racers as well!” Dominic Morris – Business Analyst

After the go-karting it was time to say good-bye to each other and head back to our final destinations. The retreat organised by the company did not only give transparency on the vision and scope of the company but also provided a relaxed platform where the whole team could bond and connect. The food, the laughter, the bus rides were not confined to separate departments but in fact everyone united under one roof to explore the essence of the company in its truest and most unfiltered form.  

With a happy and rejuvenated team, it is now time to move forward and achieve greater heights because the sky’s the limit for us. We have great challenges and great opportunities, but with focus and persistence we will meet them and make this year the best year in our history! 

About Unmanned Life: Unmanned Life is changing the way robots are being deployed by providing seamless orchestration of autonomous robotics with its Autonomy-as-a-Service software platform. Unmanned Life integrates different technologies. Such as AI, 5G, and Edge computing with multiple robots, like drones and/or autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and a variety of capabilities to enable autonomous robotics operations across multiple industries in particular, Industry 4.0 and Smart Cities.