Do you need space and
time to reconnect?
Do you believe in the power of face-to-face conversations to deepen relationships and strengthen trust?
Does your team need to step away from the day-to-day to gain perspective and reconnect with what’s important?
Are you worried about the logistics, cost and impact of such a day?
Creating quality team time is not easy
I have heard such horror stories about team away days that just the mention of the words “off” and “site” can get eyes rolling and excuses readied.
It doesn’t have to be that way.
Good away days generate quality conversations
I have had twenty years’ experience designing high quality, interactive gatherings that generate both insight and commitments to action. The secret is in the preparation and in taking an empathy-based approach. The hard truth is that while you as a leader or organiser might be enthused about your off-site and have already generated a PowerPoint deck full of financials and strategy, your team will be arriving thinking about:
- All the emails they will need to catch up on later that evening
- All the meetings they will need to squeeze in somewhere else
- All the previous off-sites that generated lots of ideas and then led nowhere
They may also be dreading the forced fun and team building “games” they may have to endure.
Good away days focus on what attendees want and need
They want to:
- Feel safe, especially in times of change and uncertainty
- Learn something new, but not be lectured or talked down to
- Share ideas and contribute
- Be listened to, respected and recognised
- Feel they are being led, not controlled
Click here to read about building great teams.
The away days I design and facilitate:
- Deepen trust and mutual understanding
- Generate creative ideas and options
- Boost energy and engagement
- Kick start new relationships
- Foster genuine understanding
Does this sound like something you’d like for your team? Contact me to start the conversation. Life is too short to have bad days out of the office.
How I work
It all starts with the location. I describe location as my co-facilitator; choose a dull, corporate location with predictable food and bad lighting and your results will reflect that. Choose somewhere that is more individual, responsive, serving nourishing food in a beautiful setting, and your output will reflect that.
I then work with you to get clear on what three to five things you need attendees to take away. Then I suggest ways that we can get those messages to land, while meeting all the needs I’ve mentioned above.
Everyone agreed it was the best company day that they had ever attended; they built valuable relationships with people they don’t regularly speak with and now have a greater awareness of what everyone else does. Being listened to and having the opportunity to input gave them motivation and a real sense of being part of the business.
As a business owner I know people are everything. Investing a relatively small amount of time and money to engage and motivate our people is money well spent.
