Maybe your staff are getting a little stir-crazy, or maybe your budget is higher than you were expecting for the quarter and you feel like everybody could do with some fresh air, or maybe all of your staff work remotely and need to come together. Perhaps it is time to consider a team-building getaway to strengthen some of the weaknesses amongst your work force and to improve staff morality. Here is a quick guide to setting up a successful retreat for you and your staff.
Think about the objective of the getaway. Perhaps it will revolve around a particular meeting. Perhaps it will be to help your staff relax. Maybe it will be focussed on improving skills and communication amongst your staff. Before anything else, it is a good idea to decide upon a location that satisfies this. Lots of venues specifically cater for work retreats and the staff there will be able to assist you in creating activities and hosting events to take a weight off your shoulders. Often venue locations are remote and somewhere natural which helps your employees to focus and to concentrate on whatever activities you designate. Consider the cost of transporting your team to the location, the facilities on offer and above all, your budget.
Next, begin planning the retreat. It is a good idea to set up a planning committee, preferably containing people who will actually be attending the retreat as if they feel that they have contributed towards decisions, they will be more eager to be involved when completing activities. Try to get some of the staff from higher up in the business to participate as well as this will help everybody to relate to each other and improve morale and communication throughout the different levels of the business.
While the retreat may revolve around a meeting (or not), it is always a good idea to include a number of games and activities that bring the team together. You may want to start with a few ice breakers to break down the barriers between your staff and to make them more comfortable amongst each other. You could put your staff on the spot and make them answer a desert island question, such as what three items would you chose if you were going to be stranded on a desert island to survive? This is good because it makes people think resourcefully, showcases their individual personality and puts a little pressure on people to speak in public. Another, slightly more absurd, but good game guaranteed to break down some barriers is to ask your staff to tell you something that they hate and why they hate it in the form of I hate X because it X and to get everybody in the circle to state this in front of everybody else. Then, get your staff to replace the object of their hatred with the word sex and get them to repeat their statement. This will make everybody laugh a lot and bring them closer together.
After you have broken the ice, you will most likely want to involve some team building games. Quite often, companies look to complete escape room type situations where the team have to work together to find clues to escape an organised situation within a time limit. You can also split your team in half and ask each half of the team to build half of a bridge to meet the other half of the team who will be building the other half of the bridge. This is clever because the two halves of the team cannot communicate with words but still have a common objective, and have to find other ways to work together.
Alongside activities, include time for your team to relax with each other and enjoy eating together. Make sure you find out everybody's dietary needs before you leave and cater for these if necessary. You can even include a cooking challenge or course as part of your retreat, which will encourage people to work together.
Try not to include tight deadlines or stressful situations as, although it might get your team moving and engaged in the situations, it is as important for the team to take some time out and to relax as it is to improve their skill set.