Is your organization’s leadership team contemplating a corporate retreat this summer?
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You’re not alone; strategic getaways can be among the most heralded events on a senior management or board calendar. Yet, the experience also produces its share of sighs—with execs expressing frustration with the value of past events.
Although corporate meetings continue to show the greatest projected growth of all types of meetings, according to the 2017 Meetings Outlook survey, conducted by Meeting Professionals International (MPI), there are signs that organizers are being cautious about spending decisions.
“More than ever, they are doing more with less, and there is a focus on ROI,” says Bill Voegeli, president of Association Insights, the Atlanta, Georgia-based research firm that conducts the survey for MPI.
This year’s corporate meeting budgets, in fact, will either remain consistent with last year’s spending or decline slightly, according to the 2017 Global Meetings and Events Forecast by American Express (AMEX) Global Business Travel. That prediction comes on the heels of 2016, which marked the largest forecasted spend increase in 4 years. Budget snips this year, the AMEX report says, will target added, off-site evening events and the overall length of meetings—the first two areas that companies will eye for cuts.
For those reasons, experts say, today’s off-site retreat demands a more exacting laser focus—one that goes way beyond the decision of whether to book the dude ranch or the luxury resort.
Leading a Retreat that Works
To boost the effectiveness of your off-site gathering, we’ve collected the following planning tips to keep in mind.
Plan ahead and look for ease of execution. Digital strategy firm Lullabot, which has gone on an annual corporate retreat every year since 2006, starts its planning process 3 months in advance. A team that includes company directors and HR reviews notes from the last retreat to hash out what worked and what didn’t. Then they talk about what they really want to get out of the next one. For example, one of CEO Matt Westgate’s goals was to reduce the sit-and-listen presentations in favor of more collaborative workshopping as a company.
This year, 52 Lullabot employees flew to Palm Springs, California, for a week at Smoke Tree Ranch. Interestingly, the company has made the decision to return to the same place every year, Westgate says. The reason? It eases stress on their event coordinator and focuses on event curatorship rather than logistics planning.
Determine an achievable goal that works within the agenda. For example, are you hoping to discuss issues at a much deeper and more thoughtful level than they can be in the “controlled chaos” of the office environment? Are you seeking new solutions to big-picture problems? Or do you want to bring together far-flung offices to reconnect and network? Within these frameworks, your team may want to do the following: (1) Engage in reflections about past performance to consider what the team has done well and what it could have done better; (2) discuss and debate current opportunities and challenges; and (3) create strategic plans for the future.
Let your strategic goal drive your invitation list. Do you want every employee to attend? Or is your biggest issue a matter for the senior management team? While a retreat’s goal is often tied to bringing the whole group together, it doesn’t always have to be. Depending on the aim, it could be more appropriate to invite a vertical slice of your organization instead.
In tomorrow’s Advisor, three more strategies to help deliver a better retreat experience for your team.