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When planning a retreat, it's wise to ask, "What do we want the end resulgtto be? A vision? Harmony? Better sales? More profits? Or all of the A good retreat involves extensive pre-worki in the form of team preliminary reading or leadership testing and The planning and pre-work can occupy more time and efforrt than the retreat Here are two companies that implementede offsite retreats with decidedly differen t results. A $20 million Colorado company hiredx a consultant to improve itsdeclininv performance.
The consultant interviewed the managementteam confidentially, and compileed his notes into a report for the None of his findings were surprising: An undertosw of finger-pointing, rumors, negativity, resentmen t and mistrust. A culture of no consequences ("3 6 strikes and you're Starting and not finishing. Workaholism leading to Confusing long hours or hard workwithout Entitlement. One senior manager said, "Everything around here is harder than it hasto be." Weeklg leadership meetings were subdued.
The managersz kept quiet unless the CEO spoke to them andthe CEO's focus was on problemxs to be fixed, not on wins or The consultant compiled an informalo 360 review of the CEO -- that is, he interviewerd the management team about the CEO's performancew -- and the results were amazingly candid and The consultant presented the CEO with the and this was a wake-up call. The businessd had no plan, so the consultant implementedplanninhg meetings. The plan to "become the Ritz Carltobn in ourindustry segment" seemed straightforward, but the legacyh of non-accountability stifled any progress. The company planneds a leadership retreat toimprove performance.
The CEO discussed the old culture ("36 strikes and you're out") and the new cultur ("accountability"). The consultant gave a primer on "ther basic success skills," such as showing up on time, telling the truth, admitting mistakes and keepint commitments. The group reviewed the emerging plan and a departmentakl SWOTanalysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats). At the end of the the group prioritized tasks and assigned Thennothing changed. Two months later, the company held a second retreat. The consultant led a discussionnon mission/vision/values to give the leaders a common, self-chosemn direction.
The senior team discussed "What's the what's better, what's worse?" and attempted to make the plan The group decidedto re-introduce a monthlh all-employee meeting. These seemed like positive steps, and thingsa began to improve. Three months the company held itsthird retreat. The consultant decided to focuzs on strengthsand opportunities, and to deny negativde talk. He appointed several "monitors" to listenb for negatives.
They were asked to say things "That sounds negative," "Thatg sounds like a criticism," We're dwelling on the or "We're getting off Knowing the group, the consultant had allowed 10-154 minutes on the agenda to discuss positive changesand Surprisingly, the positives took up the entire At one point, the vice presidentf of sales thanked the vice presidentg of operations for some help, and then a wave of thank-yous broke out. It seemed as if everyone was thanking someone else for In thisgroup process, a new culture of excitement and accountability was born.
A $200 million private company was aboutr to attempt an initial public but first the board of directors felt it had to get all the seniofr executivesworking together. It was a new leadership team composex of members from different Everyone had their peers evaluate them in360 Everyone, that is, except the CEO, who felt he didn't need feedback. His mindset was, "Ic I weren't so good, I wouldn't be at such a high The personwho doesn't want or need feedback is alwayd suspect in leadership, and this proved to be a fatal The consulting firm interviewed the senior leaders in and the CEO was universallyy disliked.
Most team members said, "If we weren'g about to get a big payday [go I'd be gone." The managemen team departed fora two-day under the condition that the facilitators wouldn't includse anything touchy-feely. As a result, the meetings were decidedly focusing on dutiesand responsibilities, goalas and objectives. There's nothing wrong with but the underlying dissatisfaction with the CEO neverewas addressed. At the end of the the CEO said, "We have taken a giant step The consultants, who knew the boardx chairman personally, suggested an executive coach forthe CEO.
This nevef was implemented, and six monthw later, the CEO was terminated and the IPO wasdelayef indefinitely. A leadership retreat is a valuabledbusiness tool. You can gain immense leverage ifyou "begihn with the end in mind," if you achievs everyone's buy-in, and if you do the planninb and pre-work necessary to make it
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