Get Outside the Box

Taking your team on an office retreat can help you fine-tune your strategy and approach bigger problems more creatively.

By Helen Thompson

No matter how much you always have your business at the forefront of your mind, every now and then you need an organizational tune-up to get everyone as pumped up as you are. And let’s face it: Sometimes you find yourself stuck, too.

“People who are successful in insurance sales aren’t just doing it for commission. They do it because they make a difference,” says Courtney Pullen, president of Pullen Consulting Group, a Denver-based company that specializes in business consulting services for financial advisors. “But sometimes we get so caught up in the day-to-day running of our businesses that we need to step back and say, ‘Wait a minute.’”

These are the perfect signals that it’s time for something a little bigger than your average team meeting, according to Pullen. Time to retreat! That doesn’t mean you run away from your obligations, but rather you set aside a few hours, a day, a weekend—whatever time your organization needs—to pull your entire team together and address the big picture—outside the office. “There is something valuable about leaving the office and going somewhere else,” says Pullen. “People think more creatively, more objectively and more thoughtfully.”

It doesn’t matter whether yours is a large or small practice. “Whether it’s literally just two people or a large firm with many layers, at the core these retreats are similar in that all businesses are trying to figure out how to grow,” says Pullen. But it may affect which questions you decide to ask your team. (See box.)

Here are some things to consider while planning and running your office retreat:

Get out of the office. It’s not a retreat if you’re meeting in the lunchroom instead of the boardroom. “It doesn’t need to be extravagant,” says Pullen. “But it really should be more than Denny’s.” Let your budget and resources determine where, but go!

Bring the whole team. Everyone has a different view within the organization, and it empowers staff members to know they have a voice. “Even the person who greets the clients has insights he can share,” says Pullen. “He may hear what people are talking about in the waiting area.” If you’re discussing sensitive information, then of course, only invite key people. But don’t discount the insights you can get from your whole team.

Give everyone a task. For instance, put one person in charge of taking notes; have that person distribute the notes to the team when the retreat is over. “For every commitment the team makes, assign one person to making sure that task gets done,” says Pullen.

Consider using a facilitator. It’s easy to get distracted as a group with shared interests. And if you’re in charge of the retreat, you’re doing two jobs: running it and trying to think creatively. A facilitator, says Pullen, can help you plan and stick to your agenda. Business coaching and consulting services often offer retreat facilitation services.

Take action. Once you’ve dreamed a few things up, create actionable items that can be followed up on. “Now that you’ve come up with all these great ideas,” says Pullen, “who is going to be responsible for executing them?” Set dates before you leave the retreat, and make sure everyone knows what’s expected of them.