What are the components of a successful company offsite?

Nothing could be more crucial and important for an organization than ensuring that it invests on cost-effective programs wherein the outcomes justify the money spent. Corporate offsite are trendy and invariably produce results — positive if done in a proper and organised manner and negative if done randomly, just for the sake of it all. While positive results will surely drive the desired kind of employee engagement where employees will be willing to work harder, be motivated and unified like never ever before; the negative results will be disastrous and take years to rectify.

A successful company offsite should not be only about having fun and getting to enhance the personal bonding between one another, it should be definitely focused on empowering employees to take back home some key learning. If you wish to ensure that you do not leave your employees demotivated, lost and simply indulging in brick-batting and fun during team building activities, you need to ensure that all the components of a successful company offsite are met with thoroughness and precision.

Here are the five main components to ensure that an offsite and retreat program is an enduring and consistent success.

1. Plan everything to the last detail

Identifying a goal is the first step in the entire process. As long as there is a clear, concise and definitive purpose, and everyone in the planning team understands the same, the chances of the offsite being a success are guaranteed. In order to set goals, it is important that organizations spend time in reflecting on how the past performance has been in the context of team building activities and employee engagement programs.

Also, it is equally important and essential that teams brainstorm on the current and existing challenges that need to be addressed. Looking into the opportunities, threats and weaknesses is also advised while designing the format and the content of the retreat.

2. Setting rules and taking inputs from team

While the program is being decided and the format, structure and content are being put together, research is being done, the corporate offsite planning the team must ensure to take inputs and suggestions from people who matter as well as anonymously from all levels of team members. This helps enrich the quality of deliverable and helps in making the program more aligned with parameters that will make it a success.

It is also equally important to set down the basic ground rules and inform all participants about the same. Things like confidentiality of views expressed at the meet, support of positive interactions and brainstorming sessions, etc. are certain things that you would want the team to understand thoroughly before they start for the offsite.

3. Learnings

What is a corporate offsite meet that does not empower participants and send them back home with some hard-hitting facts and learning? One needs to make sure that the key takeaways from the program be precisely decided before the start of the event. One also needs to ensure that these learning — be it about team building, leadership, motivation, collaboration, strategic planning, business operations etc. — needs to be in sync with the overall goal of the program.

4. Personal bonding

Corporate offsite are the best places to encourage team members to bond with each other. More amicable the relations are between your team members, the better they will work as a collaborated team unit. The unity, the camaraderie and the motivation to help each other, to undertake the impossible, to take chances, to work together on each other’s strengths and help overcome weaknesses and fears. While it is true that people do not come to the office to build personal relationships, it is also true that knowing another person at a personal informal level helps create a positive co-working atmosphere vis-à-vis employees being anti towards each other and trying to bring one another down.

Team off-sites are the best time to learn new skills and help one another learn too. With informal interactions, dialogues and a relaxed ambience, employees start to share and fortify their friendships and relationships, which in the long run will do good to your employee engagement endeavours. This also helps members put aside their personal differences and focus all their energies and thoughts towards the larger organizational goals.

5. Plan activities for building a team

Activities are the binding factor in a corporate offsite. This is one part of the task that needs to be done with clarity and lots of novelty. Often, employees run away or smirk at the announcement of an offsite or retreat program. Many employees are looking forward to the complimentary food and drinks while many are bored with the repetitive nature of various team-building activities. Hence, what is highly crucial is that the right kind of energy is invested in finding and innovating activities so that the interest and the enthusiasm of participants are always at the maximum. What many companies do is to hire and outsource the work to outside facilitators so that they are able to do a fair job.

Activities that are creatively designed and intellectually executed garner favourable response from participants. Professional training companies are experts in this area of work and design training programs in accordance with the goal of the offsite and incorporate activities that involve physical and mental aptitude in the right proportion. Examples of great team activities include the Drum Jam Session, the Cook it up and the Pyramid Building.

Source: https://itspraveenraja.tumblr.com/post/188274894457/what-are-the-components-of-a-successful-company