How to Retreat Responsibly
Three Tips for Your Next All-Staff Retreats
With the election results upending our world and expectations, you may be thinking about how you bring your team together in the aftermath. Or, more likely, you were already thinking about an annual team retreat and now it feels daunting and also more important than ever.
All of that is true. It is hard to bring people together — people are rightfully angry, exhausted, and scared of what’s to come. Which is actually why a retreat is so critical. It’s the opportunity to build connections, talk honestly about challenges ahead, and plot the path forward together.
There are no shortcuts with retreats. They are time- and labor-intensive. So if you’re already going to invest all that time and money, it’s worth doing it thoughtfully. Below are three tips for making your retreat a success.
These lessons are gathered from my experience working with organizations to plan and facilitate all-staff retreats and strategic planning sessions. If you’re planning an upcoming retreat and need additional capacity, I’m here to help. It can provide an outside perspective to refine goals and craft an agenda. Plus, during the retreat, having a facilitator allows you to participate, rather than having to manage the facilitation of the retreat. Reach out if you’re looking for planning and facilitation support.
Tip 1: Refine Your Goals
This requires killing some of your darlings. (I’m sorry.)
One organization I worked with to plan and facilitate their two-day all-staff retreat came to our first meeting with a list of 10 goals. Together, we worked to prioritize the list, cutting it down to three core goals. To do that, we thought about:
Work they had already done as an organization that they wanted to build on
Existing challenges that needed an immediate solution
Existing challenge where they wanted to take a step forward
How to move blockers for pressing work that needs to get done
Other goals to consider as you’re planning your retreat could include:
Spending time reconnecting as a team, especially for remote organization
Clarifying organizational purpose in light of the shifting landscape
Assessing your organization’s strengths and challenges
A quick rule of thumb: Three main goals is a realistic aim for a two-day retreat.
Tip 2: Don’t Overstuff The Schedule
Once you have clarity on your goals, the next task is planning out your agenda. Just as it’s important to narrow the focus of your goals, it’s critical not to overstuff your agenda.
I’ve seen retreats packed to the gills with back-to-back sessions, only for a team to leave feeling exhausted.
A retreat shouldn’t drain your team of energy — it should restore it! You want people to leave feeling connected, inspired, and movitated. Ready to get to work. That’s not possible if you’ve run the team ragged throughout the retreat.
Give your team time to breathe and to build connections organically with their peers outside of sessions. It may feel counterintuitive to the goal of productivity, but I promise it’s productive in its own right. Build in time for things like:
Comfort breaks — going to the bathroom, grabbing fresh air, refilling coffee (it’s critical)
Solo reflection or writing time — not everyone thrives in group work, so it’s important to make time and space for people who need different types of
Travel and transition time so you’re not rushing from place to place or session to session
A balance of full team and small group activities
Also consider mixing in some non-work related activities. In September, I facilitated a team retreat where one of the activities I created was a scavenger hunt in the National Portrait Gallery. It was an opportunity to inspire and for the team to connect in a completely different way.
Tip 3: Don’t Expect a Cure-All
A retreat is not going to fix all of your organizational problems. Sorry!
Yes, you can leave with progress on a challenging topic. One group I worked with, for example, spent a portion of their retreat addressing the shifting organizational priorities. That’s not an easy conversation — or probably the last. But it was an important starting point for an organization in transition.
Yes, you can decide on paths forward. I worked with one team who used their retreat to hear from staff about what they were most excited about working on in the year ahead and used that input to make final decisions about their programs.
But you are not going to solve all the challenges you face in a single retreat. And going in with the expectation you can is a recipe for disappointment.
Instead, think about the strengths you want to build for the long haul. This could include building up better communication skills. Or developing a tool for assessing project opportunities. Or maybe you need more cohesion among your senior team.
Whatever it is you’re trying to fix, think about your retreat as a step forward, not the whole marathon.
Ready to plan a fulfilling, well-organized experience? Get in touch.