How to get the most out of your next staff retreat
1. Quotable quote
"Good things happen when co-workers get away from their pressure-filled environments. Business and industry have recognised for years that getaway days and retreats are useful for improving morale and organisational effectiveness… The retreat is an exciting vehicle for practising involvement, communication, and problem-solving strategies. It is probably the most complete procedure I know for enabling staffs to develop power and success in working together."
2. It's a fact
A planning retreat is a meeting typically involving staff and management. It can be one to two days long, sometimes using a facilitator to help structure the process. Retreats are usually held away from the workplace or on weekends to ensure that participants can focus wholly on the issues at hand and are not distracted by the everyday office interrupt-ions. Key stakeholders will sometimes be invited to join the retreat to strengthen the relationship between the stake-holder and the organisation or to educate individuals around certain organisational issues.
When used as part of the planning process, a retreat is a great opportunity for different elements of an organisation to work together to map the organisation’s future.
3. Ask yourself
Consider these questions when contemplating whether your organisation should hold a retreat as part of the planning process:
- How much do the management and staff actually know about the organisation and how much will they be able to contribute in a remote setting?
- What outcomes are the different parties looking for in the retreat? How realistic is it that all outcomes will be accomplished? …
