Many companies are now hosting team-building retreats more than in past years because they positively impact their employees’ morale and overall productivity. Actually, a successful retreat unifies your team and transforms your company’s processes, products, and services.
However, organizations that have never organized a retreat can have a tough time planning one. Indeed getting it wrong can waste your money and demotivate your team more than before.
The article highlights 5 key elements that can help you plan a successful retreat. Following them can minimize failure and supercharge your employees.
1. Location
Choosing the best location for your company retreat is one of the most challenging tasks. Many factors influence the choice of location, including the budget, weather, accessibility features, time zones, accommodation type, activities, dietary restrictions, etc.
But you don’t need to worry because TeamOut, a corporate travel management tool, is readily available. This tool can help you estimate the costs of flights for the entire team attending the retreat, thus helping you plan a budget-friendly event.
An excellent annual retreat should be centered on the best location. For instance, a country retreat can give your time an opportunity to engage in water sports, horse riding, archery, etc. A cosmopolitan one allows them to try cocktail making, take art classes, and evening entertainment.
2. Budget
A team retreat costs money. You need funds for transportation, meals, accommodation, and activities. The company retreat can be pricey such as when you fly the entire team to another country or a simple one near the office building. The company’s objectives of planning a retreat will influence the amount to spend on this annual event.
3. Company Goals
People who plan a retreat on a whim end up with boring activities and a less motivated team. On the other hand, a well-planned company retreat has a positive impact on productivity and revenues.
So before you run a retreat, consider what the organization wants to achieve with it. Is it to solve a critical problem within the team? Enhance future collaboration? Or give dispersed teams time to come together to bond?
A successful retreat should focus on building relationships among the team members because it will help them collaborate better in the office. As a result, you should incorporate activities that support unstructured communication.
4. Time of the Year
Companies plan their retreat when workflow eases. But there are other things to keep in mind. Corporate retreats shouldn’t coincide with times when families have their personal vacations, such as during holidays.
However, if the company workload lessens during the vacation months, then it’s best to plan more work than play retreat. This will eliminate competing for calendar space and help your employees meet family commitments. So you would instead schedule your company retreat when kids resume school and hotels are less crowded.
Alternatively, the organization can invite partners and children to their team-building event, especially when a team is young, or the retreat takes an entire week. But you should keep the dynamic consistent by ensuring everybody brings their family or comes solo.
5. Activities
The type of activities has a huge effect on the success of your retreat. Picking suitable activities includes avoiding things that endanger your team or make them uncomfortable such that they can’t enjoy the planned activities.
The planned activities should foster unstructured communication and problem-solving skills. Here are the factors to consider when picking team-building activities:
- Team’s fitness level
- Already possessed skills and capabilities
- Location
- Allotted time for each activity
- The weather or season
Hiking, biking, sailing, camping, backpacking, skiing, kayaking, snowboarding, etc., are some of the activity ideas for your upcoming company retreat.
In conclusion, a successful corporate retreat should be fun and memorable. The selected activities should help your employees bond and improve productivity when they return to the office. Be assured the 5 mentioned elements will make your company retreat successful.
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