How to get the most from your team offsite

Whether you call it an ‘offsite’, ‘awayday’ or ‘retreat’, coming together as a team for a day or more represents a unique opportunity to do the work you can’t always get done as part of your regular (and at times frenetic) cadence. It’s a precious investment of time and effort, and can have a significant impact on your team’s activity in the weeks, months or even years that follow. But holding a successful offsite isn’t easy, and there are many elements to consider. If you’re planning your next one, here are a few tips to help…

Get a change of scene

Whilst it’s tempting to save on cost (and travel) by holding your ‘offsites’ in a meeting room at your regular office, if you’re investing the time to come together, it’s worth also investing the money to create the right environment. Particularly when you’re looking for innovative or reflective thinking, creating physical distance from here-and-now is invaluable. A change of scene helps to set a different tone, and significantly reduces the risk of distraction. What’s more, we know ‘place’ plays a huge role in memory; it’s why people typically know the answer to the question ‘where were you…?’ about big global events. Given this, just being in a new location is likely to make the experience stickier.

Design the agenda, then cut it in half

We’ve all been there – you’ve got a team offsite coming up and for several weeks beforehand you keep identifying things that should be covered. Before you know it, there’s half a dozen agenda items, each with about an hour for discussion; in effect, you’ve just created a series of back-to-back meetings. If you’re at this point, it’s worth taking stock, and being brutal with the agenda. Getting part-way through several discussions is a lot less gratifying than covering one or two things well. And an offsite is typically when you most want to actively encourage discussion, not shut it down for lack of time. Just as you need to create space physically through the environment you choose, create space temporally by giving room for people to talk.

Set the stakes

Even if you’ve pared the agenda right back, it’s important to still use the time you’ve created for high-value discussion. In this spirit, think about how you can best tee-up the day and set your attendees up for success. This could be about sharing information you want people to get their heads around in advance (think strategy decks and such like) or it could be about setting the tone and mood. A well-chosen article or video can help people get in the zone for a different type of discussion and often better caters to those who benefit from time to reflect. Either way, it’s important to set the stakes for the day, so attendees feel clear on what they’re there to achieve. ?Ultimately, your purpose should guide the format, who needs to in the room and the role you each play.? Check out Priya Parker (author of ‘The Art of Gathering’) for more tips on this one.

Bring variety

Sitting in a room for a whole day having conversations can be tiring, and the fatigue is often exacerbated when there are high levels of repetitiveness. Having the same ‘types’ of interactions over and over again can lose people’s attention, so put some thought into how to vary the energy. This can be about blending presentation versus discussion, small groups versus large groups, listening versus reading, speaking versus writing or drawing, sitting still versus moving or seriousness versus light-heartedness. Mixing up your methods keeps people engaged, and again helps to cater to the varied ways in which people process or express information. And if you’re in a place where you can get outside, use it!? Walking breakouts or pairs can unlock more creative energy.

Create fewer, better actions

There’s often a moment when people get back to their desk after a team offsite, take one look at the backlog of emails and feel a pang of dread about all the new actions they’ve just agreed. Offsites should be about driving change but that doesn’t necessarily mean kicking off lots of new tasks or projects. Taking on too much runs the risk of overwhelm and therefore failure to complete, undermining the value of the time together. Rather than using your offsites as a moment to create lots more work, see them as an opportunity to refocus or reset, and ensure any actions are important, clear and manageable. Even better, think about how you can also drive action at the individual level, such that you’re not creating lots of new ‘initiatives’ but building commitment for specific, personalised change where needed.?

Foster social connection

Finally, while it’s important to use your time with the team productively, don’t forget that one of the key benefits of team offsites is allowing individuals to connect on a human level. In the era of remote and hybrid working, colleagues typically spend less time in one another’s physical presence, and so the opportunity for in-person interaction is all-the-more valuable. Try not to pack the day so tightly with work discussion that you lose space for attendees to interact with one another in broader ways. You’ll often find the conversations people most remember about an offsite are the ones you didn’t plan at all.

About Kindred

Kindred helps organisations achieve growth and impact by establishing the structures, practices and behaviours for people to do their best work. We support leaders and teams to raise their games, individually and collectively.

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