How To Plan a Team Retreat – Part 1: Why Retreats Matter in 2023
As the workplace continues to evolve to include more remote work options and flexible scheduling, finding time to get your staff together is more important than ever. A custom-designed, professionally-facilitated retreat can be just the solution you need. You can use your retreat time to accomplish a wide variety of tasks, from strategic planning to team-building, while also establishing trust and understanding within your staff. The results of an organizational or leadership retreat can help you lay the pathway for success while strengthening existing relationships and forming new connections that can lead to innovation and an evolution of your services.
How to Tailor Your Retreat to Your Company’s Needs
The power of a high impact retreat lies in designing each component to take into account your company’s unique industry, region and/or market, and needs. The best retreats aren’t picked from a catalog, they’re tailored to address your company goals and organizational culture.
Designing a retreat starts with planning and vision. Identify key areas you want to target within your retreat and build the programming out to reflect those areas.
You can focus on topics like:
Determining Next Year’s Priorities
Strategic Planning for the Future
Corporate Culture and Employer Brand, or How Your Organization is Perceived Outside the Company
Leadership, Management, and Mentorship Styles and Development
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Culture and Trust: The Leader’s Role
Establish or Revise the Rules of Engagement
Conflict Management & Breaking Through Barriers
Commitment, Collaboration, & Teamwork
Giving and Receiving Feedback
Generational Challenges and Solutions
Respect in the Workplace
Managing in Hybrid Environments
Employee Engagement Best Practices
Active Listening
Many more…
Consider not just what impact you want this retreat to have on your immediate operations, but what lasting change would you like to see come from it as well.
It’s also crucial to remember that retreats are meant to be part of a larger journey toward your organizational success. The first step is to put together engaging and hands-on activities that address your objectives for your team during the retreat itself. The second, and equally important, step is to schedule time afterward to address and implement what you discovered during the retreat.
Where to Host Your Retreat
One key aspect to a successful retreat is getting your staff out of their offices and traditional surroundings. While it might seem easier to use company conference rooms or a shared office space, choosing a location outside of any normal routine and preconceived notions about day-to-day office life will encourage your staff to think differently, share more freely, and dive deeper into your retreat offerings.
Where you choose to host your retreat should be considered a reflection of both your company culture and your retreat objectives. Hotel conference rooms and resorts can offer a wide array of office-like amenities – including Wi-Fi, computer access, technology, and more – and can make coordinating groups easier with a central location.
Less traditional locations, like nature centers, boats and cruises, farms, yoga studios, and more, can challenge your staff to think even more openly while also feeling like a reward or celebration of their achievements so far.
Finding the Right Retreat Facilitator
Designing the right retreat for your needs and finding the right place to host it likely seems like a lot of work. Finding a dedicated, thoughtful partner for your retreat can make a dramatic difference. A good retreat facilitator like Loeb Leadership will meet with you to learn about your organizational goals and dynamics, make thoughtful suggestions on engagement strategies and other retreat activities that address your needs, help you pick the right location, and assist in coordinating throughout the duration of the retreat.
Different Retreats for Different Organizational Groups
A dynamic, impactful retreat is also designed around who will be attending. In the next parts of this blog series, you'll learn how to build successful retreats for:
Senior Leaders and Executives
Leaders, Directors, or Managers and Their Teams
Entire Organizations and Stakeholders
Whether you have questions about designing your next retreat, where to host it, or who you should involve, Loeb Leadership is ready to partner with you to build a better, more successful retreat. Contact us today to get the retreat process started.