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Des Moines City Council retreats for team-building workshop on decision-making
Summary
At a July 30, 2026 retreat, the Des Moines City Council held exercises and discussions on communication and decision-making led by facilitator Kelly, who emphasized small shifts to improve how members work together.
The Des Moines City Council met in a retreat session on July 30, 2026, to focus on team cohesion and the council's upcoming two‑year budget season, facilitator Kelly told participants. Kelly framed the session as an opportunity to "disrupt our pattern and change the conversation" and to practice small shifts that could help the group work more effectively.
Kelly, who led the workshop, summarized the day’s structure and tools and asked members to complete a short profile review and a series of exercises. "I haven't yet met a team that's getting important work done that can't get better," she said, urging members to view the retreat as practical work rather than therapy. The group completed an icebreaker and a series of color-based exercises designed to surface how members prefer to make decisions.
Council members exchanged brief statements about how they typically make decisions — some describing a slower, data-driven approach and others favoring faster, results-focused action. Kelly directed participants to write short decision-making statements the group could keep as an artifact and said she would circulate profiles and a team wheel after the session. "I am going to send this back out as an artifact," she told the council.
The meeting produced no formal votes or motions; it was an internal workshop intended to inform how the council approaches meetings and decisions going forward. Kelly asked members to continue the conversation in follow-up calls or electronic notes and to use the distributed profiles as a reference for future deliberations.
