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A company retreat takes the workforce away from the typical four walls of the office to discuss strategy, establish business relationships, and work on team-building. You could sail away on a cruise with your team or go on a beach holiday trip – both options seemingly more appealing than a traditional team-building activity within office premises. After the meetings, you can enjoy fun activities, drink with your colleagues, and enjoy the sea air after to relax.
The highlight of the event is streamlining specific topics concerning company business. It gives your employees the chance to realize the important roles they are playing in the organization. However, some retreats turn out to be another boring and taxing lecture-like meetings with attendees looking through their phones and a few almost dozing off. In the end, those who were present tend to go home without taking away anything from it. Company retreats can be expensive, and a disorganized one is a senseless expenditure in the company accounts. If the organizer or the facilitator is not fully aware of the goals for a particular retreat, it’s an event that is most likely to waste valuable time.
Why Hold A Company Retreat?
Ideally, a meaningful company retreat should revolve around developing employee skills, problem-solving, and collaboration. Of course, a company retreat is also a great way to strengthen employee ties and build camaraderie. You can also use it to build results-driven leadership characteristics. With these in mind, a small team of organizers can work on the agenda and work on an effective schedule.
The Ground Rules Of Holding A Successful Retreat
A retreat always centers around the business and makes sure everybody goes back to their job positions wiser and with fresher perspectives. To help organizers avoid a field trip-like scenario, everyone has rules to follow to accomplish the event’s primary goals. The CEO and the board of directors, managers, or supervisors should be present at the discussion and not just the employees. The heads of the company should give time to address the attendees and impart relevant information. Not having the right people in the room aside from the facilitator shows disinterest on their part. They should lead by example. Participation of the attendees is a must. Sharing of ideas and insights should be highly encouraged. You can use pre-written team building discussion topics to get the conversation started. The company retreat is the right time and place for the administrations to hear the staff voice out their thoughts.
1. The facilitator should not be monopolizing the discussion. They should address the people in the room and not expect them to sit through and listen for hours without any employee engagement.
2. Listen to the discussion carefully and if you’d like to say something, do so at the given moment when the floor is yours.
3. Respectfully disagree, if you are somehow not pleased. Explain your side calmly and be clear about what you need to express.
4. Be open to the ideas of others. Remember that you are in a team. Certainly, there are many effective ways listening improves leadership. For starters, it shows that you care about your team member’s ideas and that their voices are being heard and considered. Listening also demonstrates your commitment to improvement.
5. Be non-judgmental when others are speaking.
6. Always show up on time to disturb anyone, especially in the middle of an important discussion.
7. Before the discussion starts, ask the attendees to keep their phones, and other gadgets turned off to actively listen and participate instead of getting distracted.
8. Use creative presentations with business graphics tools if you can to help grab the attention of the audience.
9. Always have a question-and-answer portion after discussing different topics to ensure that your attendees understood what you want to impart.
10.Give short breaks so that attendees can have time to phone back home or recharge.
11. Discuss relevant information to establish a foundation for problem-solving and making decisions.
12. Both the speakers and the attendees should respectfully practice the clear expression of reasoning and intent to see how each has reached their conclusions.
13. Speakers should be clear and concise. Avoid using idioms and acronyms to avoid being misunderstood.
14. Always make sure to focus and attack the problem and not the person or people. Conduct conversations in a civilized manner without a tone of blame.
Company retreats tackles issues about the business. However, that doesn’t mean that it has to be too serious. You want the event to be engaging, fun, and for it to be a place where you can make them feel welcome. Your team must be comfortable enough to participate and share what’s on their minds. The exchange of energy between the speakers and the audience creates excitement in itself. Those who want to learn more away from the office get an unforgettable experience. You can have the fancy cocktails, the fun activities outside of the meeting, fancy lounges, and the expensive location. However, nothing beats the relationship you can build with your peers through effective communication.
