Offsite Team Events: The most valuable activity in your organisation OR a disruptive waste of time and money?
Let’s face it, team events or offsite meetings can be expensive and time consuming. While they can certainly provide the “feel good” factor through getting everyone together, often the benefits are short lived when team members return to their day-to-day roles (and continue to do what they’ve always done).
I’ve often had business leaders tell me in the past that they’ve had little to show for their investment other than an expensive bar bill.
But then again, I’ve also worked with great leaders who see their offsites as one of the most valuable and impactful activities in their organisational calendar due to the sustained results generated from clarity, alignment, creativity, teamwork, relationship building, engagement, commitment and putting ideas into action.
Just like everything else in business, your team offsite needs to have a strategic approach with a clear outcome focus and powerful leader led execution to be successful.
Here are some tips on how to create a highly engaging and valuable team offsite that will provide multi-faceted and sustainable returns on your investment.
1. Begin with the end in mind: What do you want your team to think, feel or do differently as a result of attending. Be crystal clear about your objectives (and share these regularly throughout so they get it too) and then work backwards to create a plan that supports your valued outcomes.
2. Communicate your strategic priorities: Ensure everyone walks away knowing exactly what the highest value areas for the business are and how their role contributes to meeting these. Ideally, you should have no more than 3 or you will dilute the focus. Show your people how they contribute to the bigger picture.
3. Create an agenda that reflects your goals: Make it clear about what the purpose and desired outcomes are for each part of the program to keep everyone on track. Stick to the time allowed and keep things moving.
4. Be “on brand” for your aspirational workplace culture: Think about the type of high performance culture you’d like most in your business and lead from this place. Create your messaging based on where you’re going and the qualities that will get you there, rather than where you’ve been in the past.
5. Make it engaging, educational, energising and empowering: There’s nothing worse than death by powerpoint at offsites – listening to other people share in depth presentations that could have been delivered via email is not the best use of your time. Instead, consider how to get your people working together putting ideas into action through structured, outcome focused activities (e.g. communication, problem solving, brainstorming, relationship building, sales & service, dealing with stakeholders, change, well being, conflict resolution) – we learn much more through doing than listening.
6. Build relationships:This is your chance to connect on a personal level. We like doing business with people we know, like and trust – this is just as important within your teams. Ensure there is a chance for people to get to know each other and don’t be afraid to share some personal information about your life outside of work so that people feel a stronger connection also.
7. Celebrate successes: Success breeds success and whilst there will always be more work to be done, it is a powerful message to recognise and reward the wins along the way. It’s also a great opportunity to stretch and challenge your team to see what else is possible.
8. Make it fun: We learn the most when we are relaxed and open. Including some lighthearted content throughout the program will open the hearts and minds of your people to tap into their creativity or “right brain thinking”. This can facilitate exceptional brainstorming or ideas that would not normally arise in a “left brain logical” process. It also makes the experience more memorable and likely to stick after the event is finished.
9. Ask for commitments and action plans:At the end of the day, if you don’t drive action nothing happens and you’ve had a nice time, but an expensive chat. Make sure that ideas are put into action with commitments and accountability – follow through to ensure it happens!
10. Measure your success for the event: Gain feedback from your team so you know what’s hitting the mark (or not) and then share these insights as a wrap up after the event.
Through combining strategic planning prior and committed execution to turn ideas into action afterthe offsite, you can look forward to positive, enduring and “sticky” behaviours that will drive successful business outcomes.
At Shine Executive, we love working with teams and supporting leaders to create high performance cultures through offsites or training workshop events.
If you are planning your next team event and would like to explore options as to how we could help to make sure your event is a raging success, why not Book your free 30 minute call now
