Going to A Retreat: It Pays to Stop, Look, and Listen

Retreats are not one of the most exhilarating activities that you can have for a team-building activity, but it might just be one of the most effective ways to form a closer bond within your circle of friends or colleagues. It might not be appreciated so much at first, but they will very much appreciate the experience after.

Retreats are usually spiritual in nature and vary from culture to culture. Retreats help participants reflect, usually in prayers. But for companies that involve a lot of different cultures, religion-specific practices can be replaced with meditative activities instead.

Why should we go on a retreat and what can we get from it?

There are many different forms of retreat and the experience largely depends on what you expect to achieve, as well as on how much you plan to commit to it.

There are many different ways to how a retreat can help you out:

Retreats as a team-building activity.

Retreats are great for team-building activities because they help promote the corporate values that are very important to any company. Corporate values should be imbued in all employees and executives alike.

Retreats can also help staff from different teams to know each other better. Retreats can help bring about the true personality of participants, and with this, workmates will know each other better and will have a renewed outlook of each other, fostering a better relationship inside and outside the office.

Retreats can also help your team have the right attitude at work, help resolve misunderstandings, clarify roles and expectations, and generally help your team has a renewed relationship.

Retreats can also help each individual reflect and unwind, making him feel renewed after, making him a better person at work.

Retreats for planning.

Retreats are also great when you are doing operational and strategic planning. A retreat is a generally peaceful activity that can help you focus on a formulating a plan. It is also good that you do the planning just as you revisit your corporate values because this ensures that everything you do will be aligned with such values.

Retreats are great for planning because you can discuss each other’s strengths and weaknesses, ensuring that you can put the right person in the most strategic position, and have the best partner complement him. This will help you maximize opportunities, and reduce threats.

Retreats are also best for planning as organizational issues are already resolved, making the plans truly objective, and geared for everyone.

How to organize a successful retreat

Retreats are great activities that can help bring about a lot of benefits. To help maximize what retreats can offer, you must organize and plan well. Here are some tips on how you can come up with a successful retreat:

Have everyone participate in the planning.

The key to making everyone more engaged in activities is to have them participate from the beginning. You can also get a lot of good suggestions on where to hold your retreat and what to do.

Also see: Tips for planning a successful church retreat

Come up with an itinerary.

Your brainstorming should end up with a concrete plan on the activities to do and when to do them. It pays to have an organized plan to follow over simply deciding on-the-spot on what best to do. This will help you maximize your time.

Hold your retreat offsite

While the budget is always a primary concern, always consider holding your retreat offsite. Though it would be a practical choice to hold a retreat in the office, it would feel just like you’re working, and it would invite your participants to actually do their work instead of participating in your activities. This would be counterproductive and would truly lessen the benefits of your retreat. So invest a bit of resource on your retreat and hold it on a serene venue.

Schedule your retreat on a working day, and during working hours.

A lot of companies choose to hold activities on weekends or on holidays. We suggest that you do not do this. Hold company activities on working days, and on working hours, so that your participants would truly feel that you are giving them time away from work and that you are not taking their own free time away from them. Your participants would appreciate this move, making them more engaged in your retreat.

Check the little things.

Often overlooked are the little things – the temperature in the venue, the quality of the food, the comfortability of the seats. Make sure that you don’t make the mistake of taking these for granted as your participants and even yourself would be staying here for quite a while. Everyone’s comfort matters for the success of your retreat.

Remove distractions during the retreat.

While on your retreat, make it sure that everyone is engaged. Remove distractions such as mobiles and laptops. Don’t let anyone work. Have them focus on your retreat and have the whole team participate.

Encourage openness on your retreat.

For a successful retreat, remind everyone to be open. Assure them that on this day, everybody is on equal footing. This will help bring about workplace issues on the table, so you can resolve them. This can also help in raising suggestions from everyone. Sometimes, the best ideas come from the most silent people.

Evaluate the retreat thereafter.

After completing your retreat, do an evaluation. Have your participants rate your retreats in terms of location, activities, and the little things too. Let them comment on where to improve, and how they felt about the retreat. This will help you come up with a better retreat each time.

It Pays to Stop, Look, and Listen

Retreats, though underappreciated by a few, are truly worth it. Retreats is time away from work well spent as it helps an organization settle issues, reflect on values, build a strong team, and plan for a better future.

But not all retreats are successful so make sure to consider our tips above so you can plan for a great retreat with maximum benefits.

With all these, we hope that you consider holding a retreat for your organization. It really does pay to stop, look, and listen through retreats.