When was the last time you and your key team members traveled to a relaxing, neutral location to bond as a team and focus on your organizational goals and vision while having a little fun at the same time?

It may have been a while since you’ve done something like this. COVID-19 surely put a damper on conducting offsites and large gatherings of people. However, the timing and environment are ideal right now for you as a leader to plan and conduct a team offsite. These venues can yield wonderful benefits of team building, focused collaboration, goal setting and strategy development. Let’s first look at how to effectively conduct an offsite. 

A key element to the offsite is to ensure you have the key (all in some cases) members of your team invited and confirm the dates well in advance to ensure maximum participation. Looking 6-12 months out for dates is a good place to start. This allows people to block their calendars and you as the leader can ensure appropriate attendance. Next, find a location away from the office, one with overnight capacity is best. This ensures that time is maximized while away; an all-inclusive facility should also offer onsite or nearby social events and venues.

While the offsite is truly a business function, making time for team bonding and connecting are vital to ensure better teamwork and strengthening bonds. Observing your team during social events and settings allows you as the leader to see a different side of your team. You may discover new talents and hidden skills to utilize later. These social connections are important for team morale, deeper personal connections, and a shared common experience for them to reflect on while working on the goals you set out to achieve.

Additionally, select and name an offsite planner from your team for the logistics and coordination once you decide on the details. This allows you to delegate details and creates time for you to focus on the goals and objectives of the offsite. As the leader, ensure you are focused on “the why” you are conducting the offsite and less the details i.e. if you have enough pens and pencils. By empowering one of your team members, you’ll be amazed at their efforts and actions to make the offsite successful. Next, we’ll look at why teams should conduct offsites.

As the leader, your key task is to clearly define, articulate and disseminate the offsite goals and objectives. Ideally, these are provided to participants a few weeks in advance. This permits your team adequate time to reflect about this prior to arrival and come prepared with thoughts and ideas and allows a more focused session at the offsite.

Your team should also have a clear expectation of the result(s) of the offsite.  Is your intent to review the last year, and set new goals for next year?  Or is it to brainstorm new lines of business and products that grow the company? Make sure your intent is clear to all participants.

Once the offsite is complete, ensure decisions, plans and strategies are recorded and announced to the entire team. This will ensure every team member understands the value of their participation, where the team is going and why certain decisions were made. Then go forward to execute the plan and decisions you made as a result of the collaboration at the offsite.   

Lastly, there are additional benefits of conducting a team offsite. These include breaking up the routine of work, creating a venue to foster creativity, and infusing some enthusiasm and ownership into the future of the organization. This is especially important if a portion of your team works remotely or uses a hybrid work environment. Team offsites, when well planned and executed, can make a large difference in the health, culture, and success of any team.

     We are approximately one third through the calendar year. There is still ample time and opportunity to conduct an effective offsite this year. Take some deliberate time now to assemble your team for the offsite, identify a team coordinator, and brainstorm what you seek to accomplish at the offsite. You will discover new things about your team members, create deeper personal and professional connections and have fun in the process. Your offsite does not have to be a large, grandiose event. Rather, focus on having the right people in attendance, purpose of the offsite and the outcomes you want as the leader.  You will likely be amazed what the event may yield upon completion.

Authored By: Thomas Dorl, Managing Director