Do’s and Don’ts of Corporate Retreats

Corporate team retreats carry a threefold purpose:

1. Provide an opportunity to solve business problems
2. Build, strengthen, and align relationships across a team
3. Offer a chance for retreat attendees to further develop their skills

Some do’s and don’ts of corporate-retreat planning include the following:

Do:

• Identify the desired outcomes and deliverables you would like to achieve as a result of the retreat.
• Provide highly skilled facilitators, as well as technicians and technical expertise.
• Include interactive simulations and tasks that help senior leaders discover their natural strengths and weaknesses.
• Establish ground rules for the retreat. This can include things like being honest, listening to others, being respectful towards others, and eliminating distractions such as cell phones, laptops/tablets, and side conversations.
• Provide opportunities to work on real issues such as the business’ strategy and direction, the proper utilization of resources, the organization’s climate and culture, or other relevant and timely issues.

Don’t:

• Assume that your team wouldn’t benefit from a team retreat
• Invest in a one-size-fits-all approach to the retreat. Each team is unique and has a variety of development needs that should be considered when planning the retreat.
• Allow the team’s precious time away from the “daily grind” to be unfocused or misused.
• Ignore the learning that is taking place.
• Shy away from confronting difficult topics that may be having an adverse effect on the team.
• Forget to include an action-planning component in the retreat to ensure that the learning, agreements, and changes transfer back to the workplace.

Types of retreats:

• Organizational Development
• Team Intervention
• Team Development
• Strategy – planning process
• Strategy – issues approach
• High Adventure – River runs, mountain trek, cave and desert simulations, sailing challenge, orienteering, Repelling, biking, etc.

Team Retreats are Effective Solutions for:

• Enhancing team cohesion.
• Improving team problem-solving.
• Unleashing team potential.
• Infusing energy and excitement.
• Developing other critical team behaviors.

From the outside, people see great pictures, smiles, excitement, and fun away from the office. The reality is that behind all of the great images and smiles is a simulation, a series of scenarios, task, and objectives designed to help leadership teams move from simply being a work group to becoming a high-performing team.

Why:

Gets your team out and away from the office where they are less distracted and have an opportunity to really interact with each other, builds unity and fosters deeper bonds as a team, and opens up opportunities for innovation and renewed energy.