The Greater Hollisburg Development Board returned from its annual retreat this week energized, aligned, and fully prepared to move backward with purpose.
The two-day session, held at a conference center 45 minutes outside the community to “remove distractions” and “create a space for bold thinking,” concluded with board members agreeing to retreat from several previous decisions, revisit multiple adopted priorities, and form a working group to determine whether last year’s working group had worked.
Board Chair Linda Marquez described the retreat as “transformational.”
“We came in with a strategic plan, an adopted work program, and clear direction from our last three meetings,” Marquez said. “But by the end of the retreat, we realized the most strategic thing we could do was pause, step back, and question why we had ever felt so clear about anything in the first place.”
According to attendees, the retreat began with a team-building exercise in which board members were asked to share one word describing the organization’s future. Responses included “growth,” “alignment,” “collaboration,” “momentum,” “clarity,” and, from one long-serving board member, “slowly.”
The first session, titled Moving Forward Together, reportedly ended with a spirited discussion about whether the board was moving too quickly, whether “forward” had been adequately defined, and whether “together” implied unanimous consent or simply the absence of open conflict.
By lunch, members had agreed that several initiatives previously approved by unanimous vote required additional review, particularly after two board members said they had “thought about it more” and one remembered a concern he had meant to raise seven months earlier.
“That’s exactly why retreats are so valuable,” said Executive Director Carla Jennings, smiling in the carefully measured way of someone calculating how many months of staff work had just been vaporized by a flip chart. “They give leaders a chance to step away from day-to-day decision-making and rediscover unresolved anxieties in a fresh setting.”
The board’s consultant, who had prepared a 64-slide presentation on implementation progress, adjusted mid-retreat and facilitated a new discussion titled Is Implementation Premature?
“It was a highly productive pivot,” the consultant said. “The board showed a strong appetite for reexamining the foundation beneath the foundation of the strategy before determining whether to proceed with the first step of phase one.”
Among the retreat’s key outcomes was a decision to delay the organization’s business attraction campaign until members can better define the word “targeted.” The board also postponed a previously approved website update after concerns were raised that the new language sounded “too confident.”
“I just want us to be careful,” said board member Glenn Patterson. “When we say we are a great place for business, I want to make sure we have explored whether that could be perceived as bragging.”
Members also debated whether the organization should focus more on existing business support, entrepreneurship, workforce development, site readiness, downtown vitality, housing, childcare, infrastructure, retail recruitment, placemaking, talent attraction, marketing, regional partnerships, or “all of the above, but in a more focused way.”
The discussion resulted in a revised priority framework containing nine pillars, 23 goals, 71 strategies, and a handwritten note reading “maybe simplify?”
Staff members were seen quietly photographing the note for later use.
Despite the retreat from prior decisions, leaders emphasized that the organization remains committed to momentum.
“We are not going backward,” Marquez said. “We are creating a more intentional pathway to eventually moving forward after we have taken the necessary time to circle back.”
The retreat ended with each board member identifying one action item. Most selected “review materials,” while one member committed to “send thoughts,” a phrase staff later described as “somewhat encouraging.”
The board will reconvene next month to approve the retreat summary, amend the previous work plan, reconsider the amended work plan, and schedule a special meeting to align on the definition of alignment.
