How to facilitate offsites?

This article is written to help people facilitate offsites. Here are FOUR principles to keep in mind:

  1. Think about what you want to accomplish & the problem you want to solve:

  • What’s the problem?

    • What is the biggest pain point on the team, cause that’s where we focus for the offsite?

      • Is it cohesive decision-making? 

      • Is it getting people out of silos and becoming aligned on a united approach?

      • Is it getting people to be less reactive and more proactive?

      • Is it personality conflicts? Creating psychological safety?

      • Is it creating empathy because sales keeps overpromising things that engineering needs to deliver?

  • How do you want the team to be at the end of the offsite?

    • What is the desired result?

2. Gain consensus and clarity around the problem to solve

    1. When I consult with companies to help plan their offsites, one of the things I do is interview the cross-functional partners to figure out what the biggest problem is, and if need be, lead a brainstorm to prioritize & align on what that biggest problem is so that everyone is aligned on what problem we’re solving for BEFORE the offsite occurs. I find that doing that leg work ahead of time vastly improves offsite effectiveness, because everyone’s expectations are aligned.

3. Things to think about in planning offsite:

    1. Design for connection

    2. Design for you want to accomplish

    3. Number of people affects the activities and whether you are doing in-person or virtual. With that in mind, I firmly believe that real teamwork is not created in a sterile conference room. Real teamwork is created in vulnerability and the ability to build trust. That’s why offsites in-person can be so impactful. 

    4. People know when you invest in them. Thus, invest in your offsite like you invest in your people in creating a memorable experience for them that has their advancement in mind: ie think about having it at a beautiful location, with healthy food and activities, engaging in activities where they are going to learn something with the opportunity to grow, and engaging in activities that are designed to build trust, such as communication or listening activities, etc.

    5. Lastly, create the programming with the intention to create natural serotonin and dopamine releases to create the optimal environment for connection: ie getting people into a joyous mood so that they can create positive memories and bonds. Natural ways to do this are the following:

      1. Spend time in nature: sunlight!

      2. Nutrition: choose protein (ex: salmon, turkey) to serve

      3. Meditation/Gratitude/Journaling

      4. Exercise

      5. Sharing stories & laughing

      6. Listening to music

        1. Take advantage of the reminiscence bump (see an earlier article I wrote on that here) and choose songs from when the team members were in high school. Yes, this requires doing a little bit of research but will be well worth the smile on their face when they hear a song from when they were 14 years old.

      7. Set and setting: make sure you prep your teammates to have the right mindset for the experience: open-mindedness, self-responsibility, and striving to be their best selves.

4. Determine how you will integrate the team response after the offsite

  • Will you have a coach?

  • At what cadence will you have in-person offsites? At what cadence will you have teambuilding efforts? Weekly/Biweekly/Monthly/Quarterly/Semi-annually/Annually? 

If you are interested in learning more, 

I have a process that I take leaders through in order to better plan the focus of their offsite:

Kendall Wallaceteambuilding, teammates, offsite, communication, corporateoffsite