Off-Site Meetings Create On-Site Results
Lorraine Ball
May 17, 2007
If you want your company to change, begin by changing your planning events. It is hard to be motivated, when subjected to the same cookie-cutter events, over and over again. If you want to motivate, design off-site events that are exciting, energizing, and memorable -- meetings that make a difference.
How do you do this? Start by paying as much attention to logic as to logistics. While food is important, food for thought is more so. Focus energy on brainpower instead of the buffet. Worry about attitude as well as atmosphere. A pretty room, and comfy chairs are nice, but the attitude of the attendees will affect the out come to a much greater degree.
Aim Higher
A productive off-site is more than a chance for people to get to know each other, to get away, or to share information. Think strategically about the retreat! Begin by planning serious discussions about business objectives.
What problem(s) will this event solve?
What decision(s) will it help people make?
What new ideas will it produce?
Anchor your off-site meeting with goals that actually mean something to the business.
Tips for a Successful Retreat
Agree on the measures of success. Spend time on the critical questions: What are we trying to accomplish? How should we do it? How will we know when we succeed?
To get the right results, invite the right people. And the "right people" are not always the folks with big titles and corner offices. Include people on the front lines who actually get the work done, whether they are product designers, engineers, accountants, or vice presidents who can champion an idea through the bureaucracy.
If you want creative results, expose people to creative ideas. Especially ideas from outside your company and industry. Invite outsiders to participate in your event, to help people think about problems from different perspectives.
While information is helpful as a foundation for discussion, remember that truly creative discussion needs to be feed something more stimulating than a 500-slide PowerPoint presentation to get started.
Activities with a Purpose
Remember the purpose is business. Whether it's a ropes course, a game of paint ball or a round of golf, team building for its own sake is a waste of time. Everything should relate to the task at hand. People are busy, and have lives outside of work. Justify taking up their time by working to solve a real problem that's on their plate.
Let ideas lead the schedule, not the other way around. If you let time dictate the process, people get worried about whether they are moving fast enough, rather than coming up with new ideas. Allow them to react to what's unfolding in the room and embrace unexpected brilliance.
What gets measured gets attention. Even the most exciting and energetic off-site will be remembered as a failure if it doesn't produce tangible business results. The best off-sites build quantifiable goals into the event as well as the follow-up to make sure everyone's time was well spent.
Follow through after the meeting
Honor the time spent, incorporate some of the suggestions and ideas, acknowledged others that were not accepted. IF people see the outcome of the event as integrated in the operation of your business, they are more likely to look forward to their next opportunity to participate in an off – site event.
How do you do this? Start by paying as much attention to logic as to logistics. While food is important, food for thought is more so. Focus energy on brainpower instead of the buffet. Worry about attitude as well as atmosphere. A pretty room, and comfy chairs are nice, but the attitude of the attendees will affect the out come to a much greater degree.
Aim Higher
A productive off-site is more than a chance for people to get to know each other, to get away, or to share information. Think strategically about the retreat! Begin by planning serious discussions about business objectives.
What problem(s) will this event solve?
What decision(s) will it help people make?
What new ideas will it produce?
Anchor your off-site meeting with goals that actually mean something to the business.
Tips for a Successful Retreat
Agree on the measures of success. Spend time on the critical questions: What are we trying to accomplish? How should we do it? How will we know when we succeed?
To get the right results, invite the right people. And the "right people" are not always the folks with big titles and corner offices. Include people on the front lines who actually get the work done, whether they are product designers, engineers, accountants, or vice presidents who can champion an idea through the bureaucracy.
If you want creative results, expose people to creative ideas. Especially ideas from outside your company and industry. Invite outsiders to participate in your event, to help people think about problems from different perspectives.
While information is helpful as a foundation for discussion, remember that truly creative discussion needs to be feed something more stimulating than a 500-slide PowerPoint presentation to get started.
Activities with a Purpose
Remember the purpose is business. Whether it's a ropes course, a game of paint ball or a round of golf, team building for its own sake is a waste of time. Everything should relate to the task at hand. People are busy, and have lives outside of work. Justify taking up their time by working to solve a real problem that's on their plate.
Let ideas lead the schedule, not the other way around. If you let time dictate the process, people get worried about whether they are moving fast enough, rather than coming up with new ideas. Allow them to react to what's unfolding in the room and embrace unexpected brilliance.
What gets measured gets attention. Even the most exciting and energetic off-site will be remembered as a failure if it doesn't produce tangible business results. The best off-sites build quantifiable goals into the event as well as the follow-up to make sure everyone's time was well spent.
Follow through after the meeting
Honor the time spent, incorporate some of the suggestions and ideas, acknowledged others that were not accepted. IF people see the outcome of the event as integrated in the operation of your business, they are more likely to look forward to their next opportunity to participate in an off – site event.
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