For your next company meeting, give the staff a breath of fresh air on a creative retreat. By Alexandra P. Karplus
Drawn-out meetings featuring overly zealous motivational speakers and cringe-inducing trust exercises are often the images associated with office retreats. But while traditional team-building exercises can sometimes come off as a bit cliché, the results they can yield, when implemented properly and creatively, are oftentimes crucial to a company’s development.
It’s common for employees who are drowning in deadlines to lose perspective. Piles of paper and long meetings can obscure the bigger picture. A business retreat encourages employees to form productive new bonds and allows everybody to take a step back from their daily responsibilities and regain a clear focus on the most important issues.
Sheila Campbell, coauthor of Retreats That Work: Designing and Conducting Effective Offsites for Groups and Organizations, explains that certain situations require employees to leave the office entirely to find the energy and enthusiasm required to provide useful ideas and solve big problems. “People use retreats to get deeper into issues and subjects where there’s not a quick or easy answer. Retreats allow people to talk openly about things and be honest with each other,” Campbell says.
SETTING GOALS
Before making plans for the trip, it’s important to decide on the objectives. A poorly conceived retreat can become an impractical project that accomplishes little. Some of the most common goals include successfully integrating new employees, enhancing teamwork and learning new ways to improve client relationships.
Whether the trip is being planned internally or by a professional, interviews with the employees involved are essential prior to the retreat. “They have some stake in the outcome because they’ve had some input on how it’s going to go,” Campbell says. Getting a better idea of employees’ strengths and weaknesses and understanding their personal goals can help you plan the perfect retreat.
Setting impractical goals that require more than the allotted time is a common mistake. “We tend to encourage people to come out with fewer things they hope to achieve and broader, more strategic initiatives, as opposed to a great big list that will only yield disappointment,” Campbell says. Everyone should return to the office with answers; too many questions can prevent this from happening.
WHO’S INVITED?
Choosing the employees who should attend retreats depends in large part on what the company is attempting to accomplish. There are times when a meeting with the heads of corporations may be more useful than a trip with the entire office. “It’s extremely important for CEOs to have a peer group they can talk to in an intimate, honest way,” says Bill George, a Harvard Business School professor. A retreat can be an ideal location for such candid conversations.
While it’s common to bring only the top executives for strategic meetings, Campbell points out that this is not always the most effective plan. “Having a mix of people from different levels can be useful,” he says. “Sometimes the people on the ground are the ones who have a better sense of what’s going on than the people sitting on the top.”
As corporations open satellite offices across the country, retreats are a good way for geographically dispersed employees to learn from each other. “When the investment group has a chance to meet with the sales teams from across the country—gaining viewpoints from different cities—they can brainstorm ideas that can be crucial to the company’s prosperity,” says Christopher Petrilli, a senior Wall Street analyst who has participated in numerous retreats. “The cross-departmental connections that you make while on a retreat can be signifi-cant in the company’s overall success.”
No matter how big the retreat, each participant should be there for a specific reason. “You don’t want to have a retreat and then find out six months later that everything is running in the exact same way,” Campbell says. The employees invited should be selected with clear objectives in mind.
SETTING THE MOOD
A hotel’s meeting room may have a beautiful Venetian chandelier hanging above the table and bay windows that offer incredible views, but for all intents and purposes, it is still a boardroom—much like the one where you meet in the office.
When looking for the perfect place, consider who will be attending and the interests of the group as a whole. While golf resorts are a common destination, Campbell says that she is often hesitant about planning retreats focused on this activity, due to the employees’ varied skill level. Retreats where beaches and resorts are involved present a similar problem, as not everyone is eager to sit in a bathing suit alongside their coworkers. Ideally, all of the people involved in the retreat should feel comfortable enough to fully express themselves during meetings.
It is also important to get a good sense of the on-site staff that will be organizing the event. They will make sure all the necessary furniture is arranged, the audiovisual equipment is present, the company literature and workbooks are properly displayed, and the food and refreshments are served.
“You want a staff that can anticipate your needs,” Petrilli says. The stress that can come along with poorly planned trips can prevent a company from achieving its goals.
FOLLOW A NEW LEADER
Top executives who participate in retreats have an opportunity to hear ideas that, in an office setting, may never be brought to their attention.
Hiring a professional to lead the retreat can provide an often-needed intermediary. Employees may find the boss intimidating, so they may be hesitant to express themselves.
“A big part of facilitating the retreat is working with the big kahunas to help them prepare to hear something that may be unpleasant—and not retaliate,” Campbell says. In order for positive, groundbreaking ideas to be brought forth, people’s guards must be down, and they need to be ready to listen.
Hiring an outside coordinator can also ensure that new kinds of ideas are being brought to the table. “We use collage-making and other visual stimuli to get them out of their traditional setting,” Campbell says, also emphasizing that she tries to avoid using PowerPoint for presentations in an attempt to leave conventional office practices behind. Storytelling and improv activities are a few techniques that can set the stage for engaging dialogue.
BRING SOMETHING NEW TO THE TABLE Innovative retreats—and fun activities— should not be limited to corporations involved in creative industries.
There is no reason to dismiss unconventional ideas, like a rock-climbing adventure or a yoga workshop. In fact, major companies such as Chevron, Wells Fargo Bank and AIG Risk Management have all benefited from cooking classes at Casa Lana in Napa Valley.
David Murstein, a vice president of Centerline Capital Group, attends several retreats per year. His trips have included hot-air balloon rides over Phoenix and ski trips to Colorado. While he admits that it is difficult to quantify the direct impact, he attests to the influence it has had on forming stronger bonds within the office setting. “Providing a forum to talk about more personal topics can help people view coworkers as more than just someone who is there to help get the job done,” he says.
In the end, this should not be a trip that employees dread and are constantly scheming up ways to weasel their way out of. The experience should offer people the chance to relax, refresh themselves, reconnect with their priorities and recharge their batteries. After some time away, your team will be prepared to take the business to the next level.
OUT OF THE BORED ROOM
4 great ideas for creative and productive retreats.
1 Home On the Range
Spend some time on a ranch, riding horses and meeting around a “bond fire.”
KING MOUNTAIN RANCH RESORT
GRANBY, COLO. (1 hour, 45 minutes from Denver) 800-476-5464; www.kingmountainranch.com
SOUTHFORK RANCH
PARKER, TEXAS (40 minutes from Dallas) 800-989-7800; www.southforkranch.com
2 Kitchen Confidential
Learn new recipes, whip up something tasty and enjoy a creative outlet at a cooking school.
CASA LANA
CALISTOGA, CALIF. (1 hour, 30 minutes from San Francisco, in Napa Valley) 707-942-0615; www.gourmetretreats.com
3 Stretch Your Limits
A yoga retreat offers self-reflection, meditation and exercise—things that are often left out when dealing with a busy schedule.
SANCTUARY CAMELBACK MOUNTAIN
PARADISE VALLEY, ARIZ. (30 minutes from Phoenix) 800-245-2051; www.sanctuaryoncamelback.com
4 Rising to the Top
Hiking encourages workers to reach common goals as a group.
AIRLIE CENTER
WARRENTON, VA. (1 hour from Washington, D.C.) 540-347-1300; www.airlie.com
CAVALLO POINT
SAUSALITO, CALIF. (20 minutes from San Francisco) 888-651-2003; www.cavallopoint.com
