Let’s face it. Team strategy offsite meetings are expensive and time-consuming. While these events can provide a great environment for team building and alignment, such benefits can be short-lived and easily lost when team members move back into their day-to-day operations.
6 Tips for Running Offsites That Aren’t a Waste of Time
Offsite meetings can provide a great environment for team building and alignment, but such benefits can be easily lost when team members move back into their day-to-day tasks. To make sure your next event has a lasting impact, be crystal clear about your objectives beforehand and think twice about who should be invited. It’s usually best to invite the executive-level team first, then get the rest of the team up to speed later. Next, develop an agenda. Plan for each topic to last between 45 minutes to two hours so that they’re neither too short nor watered down. Finally, prepare any materials or templates you’ll need on hand throughout. At the event itself, leave laptops closed to avoid getting pulled back into everyday tasks. Then, towards the end, schedule a few check-in meetings to keep everyone accountable and on track.