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Information
and Articles on Team Building
Event
Planning Organizations
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| How
to Host a Fun & Productive Staff Retreat
by Lisa Simmons |
Holding
staff retreats that are well planned &
done regularly can provide tremendous benefits
to you & your team. Just a few of these
benefits include:
Team members who feel appreciated.
A great sense of team unity & commitment
to the common goal.
Less conflict or more easily resolved
conflicts in a neutral setting.
The opportunity to resolve complicated issues
away from the usual daily distractions.
More effective long range planning.
Better results due to better use of your
team's creative potential.
A more skilled team that regularly works to
develop a fresh perspective on the task at
hand.
So what are the keys to making a retreat work?
=>Comfort
=>Interactive-ness
=>Relevance
Make it comfortable
1. Plan your retreat for a site away from the
normal workplace. Your goal here is to create
a learning environment that is positive &
relaxed. One that encourages openness & a
sense of warmth. If you want your staff to
gain a fresh perspective on each other -- then
they need to see each other in a new place
doing new things.
2. Encourage staff to dress comfortably.
Few people can truly relax in formal business
dress Plus, you will hopefully have planned
lots of fun, energizing activities that will
be much easier to do in casual dress.
3. Start the day with coffee & donuts or
juice & muffins.
By providing a few goodies, you set a tone of
appreciation. It sends the message --
"this day is for you (the team) because
we appreciate all that you do & we want to
help you do it even better!"
4. Don't forget some social time.
As kids we socialized with our friends at
school & as adults most of us form
friendships with our co-workers. It you want
your team members to care about each other
& help each to perform well, then it's
important to allow some "social
time" for everyone to re-connect with
team members they don't see frequently. The
easiest way to incorporate this into your
staff retreat is to include lunch as a group.
This can be an on-site meal catered by the
organization or the group can simply go out to
lunch together. If your group is large, don't
forget to make reservations ahead of time --
you don't want lunch to take all afternoon!
Make it interactive
1. Just moving your lecture to a new location
won't do it!
The key to a productive retreat is to use it
as a time to really draw out all the
creativity & problems solving skills of
your team. Skills that may be getting buried
in the "busyness" of completing
daily routines & paperwork. If you simply
move your lecture from the agency conference
room to somewhere else -- you've accomplished
nothing!
2. Fun IS important.
Experts tell us that adults learn better when
they are engaged & having a good time. How
do you engage the average adult? Make it fun
& interesting.
3. Get them involved!
You will find far fewer complaints about
retreats being long & boring if you get
folks physically involved. Use training
activities, have them move around the room for
different phases of the retreat, do role
playing, take turns recording information for
the group, brainstorm on post it note pads
& have them get up & down to post
their ideas. Whatever it takes to keep your
team members awake, alert, & involved.
Make it relevant
1. Plan ahead.
In order for the retreat to be productive it
needs to meet the current needs of your team.
Doing this effectively will take some
planning. Don't expect to throw together an
agenda & activity materials the day
before. Also as the facilitator, your presence
in the discussion will be key. You don't want
the flow of ideas to grind to a halt because
you had to run out & make copies!
2. Make an agenda.
I've included a sample agenda below to help
you get started, but you should have a clear
idea of exactly how you want the day to flow.
This is also a good time to identify exactly
what objectives you have for the retreat --
what issues do you want to tackle?
3. Be prepared to get things rolling. If a
current problem in your organization is lack
of communication, then come prepared with some
"real life examples". That way you
can start the conversation not with, "We
need to improve our communication skills"
but with, "Last week we missed 3 consumer
appointments, because we didn't get the
dates/times recorded in the logbook".
Which sentence do you think will generate more
discussion? Me too!
4. Help build to a positive conclusion.
In addition to problem examples, you will also
want to think about possible solutions. As the
discussion flows make notes about key issues
& possible solutions that are thrown out
by the group. Try to keep the group focused on
"process issues" &
"possible solutions". The goal of
the discussion is NOT to decide who messed up,
but how do we as a team make this better. Once
the key elements of the problem are
identified, ask for solutions. Don't volunteer
yours unless no one else wants to start. Most
teams have a tendency to think their ideas
won't be listened to after the boss has
announced how the problem should be fixed, so
they won't even share them. Even if your
intention was just to join in the group
discussion, be careful!
Sample Agenda:
1. Coffee & Donuts -- Warm Up Activity
This is the time of day when you want to focus
on a sense of appreciation & opening the
lines of communication. Use simple activities
that they can do around the table while they
enjoy your morning goodies. An example might
be, "For each member of our team finish
this sentence, _____ has helped me this week
by __________," or "What I
appreciate most about _____ is
____________."
2. Team Building Time
I've included some team building resources
with this column. Select an activity from one
of these resources or use one you already
know. Focus on activities that meet the
specific needs of your team (learning to
communicate more clearly, learning to trust
each other, using active listening skills,
etc.) Frequently these are physical activities
that will get people moving, interacting, and
talking. Don't be afraid of a little noise or
a little chaos at this point if it feels
creative & productive.
3. Produce something visual
The more is all about building positive
feelings of appreciation & contributions.
However, many team members may walk away from
such a morning feeling like they didn't
accomplish anything. So this last section is
for them! Pick a project/activity that will
produce a visible product. At your first
retreat an excellent project would be to
create a group mission statement. Once you've
met a few times you may want to create a team
Wall of Wonder. A mission statement is a
10-word phrase or sentence that captures what
your team is all about & what your purpose
is. A wall of wonder is created by listing all
of the team accomplishments over a period of
time (3 months, 6 months, 1 year) on a large
poster which can then be displayed.
4. Have a fun & social lunch!
5. Brainstorming Session
By now everyone should be relaxed & loose.
Ready to focus on more creative endeavors such
as problem solving & goal setting. During
this first session, select one problem that
your team is currently facing. If you're not
sure what's causing the problem then start
there, but try to keep moving so that you not
only identify the problem in your process, but
also come up with solutions & assign
responsibility for implementing your solution.
When you get to implementation -- use
volunteers whenever possible, but be sure to
spread tasks out over as many team members as
you can. That way everyone has a sense of
contributing to the solution.
6. Skill Building
If you have new information or skills that you
want to teach your team, this is an excellent
time to do it. There are few distractions
& you can build in however long you feel
the training needs to be successful. Just make
sure that you find ways to make your training
interactive or you will quickly lose the
energy & creativity you've spent the day
building.
7. Planning & goal setting
As the day winds down, this is a good time to
talk about where you'd like to be in a year or
5 years as a team or an agency. Try to get
your team members to provide details as they
talk. The more details you can coax out of
them, the clearer everyone will
"see" this vision. Then identify 1
or 2 things that you as a team or as
individuals can do NOW that will move you
closer to that vision.
8. Put closure on the day
End the day with a short & sweet activity.
Everyone's brain will be tired by now &
often they will be tired of sitting. You want
them to leave laughing & smiling. Pick an
activity that is uncomplicated, engaging,
& humorous. An easy physical activity may
be just the ticket.
9. Something to remember you by
Dismiss the team, with a small momento of the
day. A simple idea is just to make postcards
with inspiring words on the front & their
assignments from the afternoon work sessions
on the back.
10. Don't forget to have fun!
If you have done your planning well, then you
should be able to relax & enjoy the
retreat along with your staff. It's important
for them to get a fresh perspective on you as
well as each other. This is a great time to
let them know that you are accessible, eager
to hear their ideas, & appreciate their
efforts. You may be surprised to learn that
they appreciate yours as well!
Copyright 2001, Lisa Simmons
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| About
the Author |
| Lisa is
the director of the Ideal Lives Project,
providing practical support for special needs
families & professionals. Visit on-line at
http://www.ideallives.com or subscribe to her
free newsletter at mailto:ideallives-subscribe@topica.com |
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