A Guide to Planning a Group Retreat
Going on a retreat allows your team to relax and forget the daily hustle and grind at work. Going on a retreat will allow the team members to bond and connect with each other. Various studies have supported the fact that retreats increase employee productivity at the workplace.
To make your team members motivate for a retreat, you need to plan well. However, most people in charge of planning retreats do not give them the attention they deserve. It can be quite challenging to plan a successful retreat if you don’t have a plan to follow. For your retreat to end up being a success, you have to follow a number of steps. Below is an overview of the things to keep in mind when planning a retreat.
Purpose of the Retreat
You should determine the objectives of the retreat and communicate them to your team. Depending on what you would like, the retreat can one or multiple objectives. Determine beforehand what you would like to achieve by taking the team for a retreat. You can determine the purpose of a retreat by getting input from other team leaders.
Everyone should understand that the retreat is not an end itself, no matter what objectives you may be looking to achieve. To make the team more productive, the retreat is just one of several steps that may have to be taken. The processes and results to be gotten from retreats should fit with the normal workload as well as activities to be undertaken.
The team should understand the goals of the retreat from the onset. Every team member should be on the same page with you with regards to what the retreat will achieve. If there is no clarity of purpose, the retreat is likely to fail. Failure is also imminent if you don’t have a specific set of goals you would like to achieve from the retreat. This is why it is important to share your expectations with the team members so that everyone is one the same page with regards to the purpose of the retreat.
Finding the Right Retreat Facilitator
You need the right facilitator to have a successful retreat. Involve the facilitator from the beginning of planning the retreat. Inasmuch as you may want to facilitate the retreat, sometimes it makes sense to get outside help. For example, it can take quite some time to make decisions regarding various aspects of the retreat if the facilitator is one of the team members since he or she will be listening to the views from all sides. In such a case, things will be easier if you had a facilitator from outside.
To end up with a successful group retreat, follow the two tips above.
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