Why do off-sites work?

"An organisation is nothing more than a network of conversations. You can't talk to a fixed asset. You need conversations with other executives, structured around the hard and soft sides of the business"
      - Duffy Smith, Senior VP for Rich Products

With staff increasingly working from home, strategic off-sites are more important than ever before. They're an incredible opportunity to bring your geographically-dispersed team together for a couple days of rich face-to face collaboration and conversation. These conversations can be the most important dialogues for the prosperity and sustainability of your business. 

Unlike a team-building retreat focused solely on golf days, rafting trips, or a high ropes course (as fun as they are), our approach is all about strategic meetings that meaningfully balance structured conversations with focused activities and reflection.  As Bob Frisch and Logan Chandler said in their article "Off-Sites That Work", if you spend a few days rafting each year you'll probably become really good at rafting down rivers, but if you spend a few days a year having well-designed strategic dialogues, within a few years you'll get good at "revealing, discussing and resolving strategic issues, not just when you are at an off-site, but every time you meet as a team". 

Our off-sites work because we collaborate with you to clearly identify a set of strategic priorities and outcomes that the team wants to achieve.  We facilitate the experience to ensure off-site objectives are met and that all team members are able to participate equally throughout the process. We guide you in creating a follow-through plan to ensure your team keeps going after they return from the off-site. The most successful events are those that are developed from within, so we make sure you have all the resources you need before the off-site so we can help you to design a programme that works. 

It's important to highlight that we do not create one-size fits all programmes. In order to ensure its success, there will be important planning milestones that you, the business leader, will complete before your off-site. You know your business best, and because of this you are better able to identify what issues are most important for you and your team. 

60-90 days in advance of your off-site, the planning begins with the development of strawman objectives. These are to be built, torn down, and rebuilt before finalising and communicating them to your team 1 month before the off-site. During this planning period, you'll be asked to consider key participants, internal and external guests, and to gather data that will drive activities and decisions made during the off-site. 

By asking you key questions beforehand, we'll better understand your business and off-site goals, objectives, and priorities. We'll use this information to create an agenda, which will be shared with you in advance to ensure your collaboration with us meets your expectations. It's important to remember that off-sites are a time for intensive strategic thinking and big picture planning, focusing on matters that can easily be overlooked in the day-to-day. We'll make activity suggestions that foster deep thinking, creativity and reflection, while ensuring alignment with pre-established aims.  

We look forward to supporting you in having deeper conversations. These will undoubtedly strengthen your team's strategic thinking and problem-solving approaches, allowing you to identify clear outcomes and structured plans. Following research-led best practices, we look forward to working with you to become a stronger, more aligned team!