What time on Country teaches us about business
At Indigital, our work is shaped by relationships: with people, with place, with culture, and with Country.
As a largely remote team, we spend much of the year working across different locations and communities. When we come together in person, it is more than a chance to meet face to face. It is an opportunity to slow down, listen deeply, strengthen trust, and reconnect with the values that guide how we work.
One of the ways we do this is through our annual team retreat. Gathering on Country creates space for reflection, connection, and learning beyond the pace of day-to-day work.
For one retreat, our team gathered on Gundungurra and Dharug Country in the Blue Mountains. Known by many as the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area, this remarkable landscape holds generations of stories, cultural knowledge, and living connection to Country. It is also a place of personal significance for our Social Reciprocity Lead, Peta-Anne Toohey, who grew up in the region and carries a deep connection to these mountains.
Time on Country is never simply time away from work. It reminds us that meaningful work does not happen in isolation from place, people, or culture. Sitting together, sharing stories, and being present with Country continues to teach us important lessons about how to do business differently.
Connection Before Action
Taking time to listen and build trust strengthens every decision we make. It encourages us to slow down in the right ways, so that when we act, we do so with care, confidence, and shared understanding.
For Indigital, connection is not something that happens after the work begins. It is the foundation of the work itself.
Rest Is Part of the Work
Country reminds us that everything moves in cycles. We cannot continue to give, create, and lead without taking time to replenish.
This understanding is reflected in the way we think about wellbeing at Indigital, including Indigital Leave: a regular pause built into our calendar every 12 weeks. It creates space for our team to reconnect with family, community, and the lands, waterways, and skies that sustain us.
Rest is not a reward. It is how we sustain our energy, creativity, and purpose.
Place Holds Wisdom
Being on Country grounds us in the knowledge that this work is bigger than any one person, project, or organisation.
We are guided by stories, protocols, and ways of knowing that have existed for thousands of years and will continue long into the future. When we take time to listen to place, we are reminded that lasting change comes through relationships, respect, and reciprocity.
These lessons continue to shape how we work at Indigital. They inform how we collaborate, how we build partnerships, and how we create impact alongside communities, clients, and partners.
Our time on Country invites us to keep asking: How can we work in ways that honour place, strengthen relationships, and carry knowledge forward with care?
If you are interested in learning more about how these principles shape our company culture and ways of working, you can read our feature with Diversity Council Australia.