SEVEN POWERFUL BENEFITS OF EXECUTIVE RETREATS

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Leaders and their teams will emerge from remote work, re-enter the office setting, and need to address new and different issues. The commitment to plan and schedule an executive retreat or an offsite meeting in the next quarter, has catapulted 900% in the past month. Leaders anticipate a stronger need to meet, focus, plan, and strategize. This will be followed by more project team retreats to revive their creativity, collaboration, and communication.

Thousands of leadership meetings, board retreats, strategic planning sessions and management off-sites have been facilitated for decades. They are of value, beyond comparison, with one caveat: they must be facilitated well by an outside facilitator who has the knowledge to pose and share new thinking and questions never before anticipated.

Address the aim early: why are you having the meeting with the team? There are many situations where team meetings are held.  People feel good and experience a workshop-high, but there’s little progress or improvement back at work. Understand your purpose and articulate it.

If you want to learn, work, and strategize together to make a difference, that’s transformation! It’s hard work. That’s the work of leadership! It cannot be delegated.

In surveying executives and managers who have participated in off-sites and management retreats, the results are insightful. The key benefits of management offsite meetings or retreats are:

  • More Insightful Questions Posed. Questions are considered that have never been asked; the team can have deep discussions that explore new possibilities, solutions, and opportunities;

  • Interaction and Care. Participants are able to open up, share, contribute, collaborate, build relationships, listen deeply, and create more understanding and empathy;

  • Deeper Exploration of Issues. The team can address not only problems but the root causes to long-term problems. They explore options, strategies, and plans to move forward;

  • Focus. There’s a renewed focus on identifying priorities: What’s important and what will make a difference?

  • A New Lens with New Knowledge. New learning (systems and statistical thinking; psychology; communication) and ideas are introduced (usually through experiential exercises and a variety of education techniques) and are processed with different perspectives; the team together is able to go to the next level of leadership learning; what's next?

  • Data-Driven Decision-making. Current trends are studied to optimize your organization’s progress and results over time; and

  • Future Focus. There’s room to test ideas, discuss future opportunities, and anticipate the bold impact you can have.

What new capacity does the team develop?

  • More resiliency as they elevate to a new level of leadership for the future;

  • An ability to address and focus on deeper issues;

  • Accelerated decision-making for better, sustainable solutions;

  • Deepen the focus for more effective and efficient systems and processes;

  • Faster methods to reduce waste and complexity;

  • Breaking down barriers between people and departments and creating a healthier workplace of trust and support; and

  • Transforming old beliefs, plans, structures, and management styles into innovative leadership for bold results.

Management offsite meetings allow leaders to refresh their thinking and direction together. What leaders accomplish as a group is important. It may lead to the vitality of the company, its survival, and to thrive through uncertain and challenging times.

BIO:

Marcia Daszko works with Boards, C-suite leaders and teams to guide their leadership transformation to accelerate and achieve bold results never before imagined. She is a provocative keynote, breakout, and digital speaker for conferences and corporate events. She has been a strategic business advisor and management consultant based on Dr. Deming’s philosophy of leadership for 25+ years. An executive retreat facilitator and MBA professor, she is also the bestselling author of the book “Pivot Disrupt Transform.”  Contact Marcia Daszko for her help at md@mdaszko.com    www.mdaszko.com