5 Hacks for Effective Offsites

Across my time at Boston Consulting Group, the Austrian Government, and other contexts, I have planned, facilitated, or taken part in dozens of strategy offsites and workshops. Based on that experience, I'd like to share 5 hacks for effective offsites.

1 Define the goal

More often than not, the goal of an offsite is not clearly defined.

The lack of a well-defined goal leads to a mediocre offsite experience.

Smart goals for an offsite depends on the context. Generally, an offsite should achieve alignment around the team's future direction of work, and help a team grow together. It will make team members feel empowered and oriented as to what's next, and set them up for collaboration. That should inform the planning and design of the experience.

Any context and target outcomes should be communicated to all participants ahead of time, e.g.: 'We are meeting next week to finalize our Q3-Q4 product roadmap, and make strategic decision X.'

2 Set the agenda

Relatedly, a great offsite needs an agenda that serves its goal. Key topics, the format, and the time allocation should be well defined and appropriate to the context. The agenda should be neither too broad, nor too narrow. Operationally, leaving plenty of space for Q&A and discussion, coffee breaks, and (potentially) break-out sessions in smaller groups can improve outcomes. Enough time should also be allocated for both a check-in/orientation session and for wrap-up to capture key results and decisions.

3 Flip the script

As much as an offsite is a time for individual contributors and team leads to report to managers, an offsite is a critical opportunity for managers to share their vision for the team, and create upwards visibility. This element is often overlooked. While some managers might not feel comfortable 'reporting to their team', effective leaders leverage offsites as an opportunity to share what's on their mind, and answer any questions their team members may have. This will lead to better strategic alignment and boost team morale and buy-in.

4 Avoid the reporting trap

The least effective and engaging offsites are the ones where individual teams simply report out their current plans and progress. In those cases, whoever is not presenting is disengaged. It makes sense - the content is only relevant to those presenting, and to the manager.

The point of an offsite is not to have a manager collect everyone's status updates.

This 'reporting trap' should be avoided. Instead, structuring presentations and discussions around cross-functional issues, interdependencies between teams, and key strategic decisions (see above) will make for a more engaging and effective format.

5 Capture the results

You might have experienced this: An offsite went smoothly, discussions were largely productive, everyone is relieved and excited to go home - so it's a wrap, right? Wrong!

>85% of offsites I attended failed to capture key discussion outcomes and takeaways.

While there is an experiential component to the offsite, I believe some level of documentation is helpful. Concrete decisions and action items should be documented, and followed up on. A short debrief session can help identify those items. They should be communicated to all attendees, and operationalized. After all, an offsite is there to drive and accelerate action towards the organization's goals.

Tags: Offsite, Strategic Planning, Strategy and Operations, Project Management