We have had the pleasure of leading corporate retreats for groups from 30 to 180 employees. We have found that using these simple guidelines ensure an energizing, impactful retreat:
Simple works best. For example, create an activity where people have to walk around and find out what they have in common with as many people as they can in 5 minutes. Or let people share a picture or object that represents an answer to a key question of the day. Make it fun, quick and relevant, and people will be relaxed and ready for a fun day.
Senior Management is often tempted to jam pack retreats day with information about where the organization is headed, successes from last year, etc. This can be self-defeating as it almost always death by PowerPoint.
People look forward to informal knowledge sharing at retreats. Unfortunately, at poorly designed retreats, people learn more at lunch and breaks than they do during the whole day. Use this to your advantage. For example, get people to interview people from other business units throughout the day, with the goal of collecting certain information. Or make it a team competition, having groups work together to find out information about other business units. Whatever you chose, have people use creative presentations other than PowerPoint, such as Posters, Skits or Board Games. You will be surprised how entertaining and informative people are.
Make sure people don’t get stuck in their chairs for more than 30 minutes at a time – keep them moving. People lose focus easily. Keeping them up and around gets the blood to brain and fun genes moving. Change groups, change tables, go to break out rooms. Keep the blood flowing.
Many people have gone to so many retreats that they have the “been there, done that” feeling with retreats. It is important to come up with new, creative activities that help you meet your goals.
An easy one is to rent video cameras, and have teams create videos of ‘A typical day at the office’ and then an accompanying ‘How we would like a day at the office to be’. This can be geared around the theme of the retreat. Play them back at lunch or at the end of the day. Have teams write their own song or create and play board games. Whatever you do, find something new to keep people engaged.
