Why Team Building Retreats?
How a team functions can be a make or break issue within organizations. Team work stands as a real source of competitive advantage within the marketplace. Much has been written about how to be an effective team, yet it is still rare and not that easy to do. And even we who love the fun of play know there’s a time and a place for the work too.
Examining and rehearsing team dynamics during day to day work at the office is nearly impossible. Getting away for a time of focus and dedicated effort is often the most effective way to gain new skills and insight. Team building retreats provide the opportunity to step back and discover new areas of agreement and cooperation. Often, it is most helpful to have an individual from outside the organization to lead discussions and activities. An insider may be more threatening or may not offer an objective perspective. A key ingredient to the success of team building retreats is your facilitator’s ability to create environments for honest communication and engagement.
Ensure Team Building Retreat Success
Based on your team’s goals and direction, an ideal place to start is to create an impact map for the retreat. Once you have the impact map you should customize the sessions with interactive and energizing discussions. You want to include ice-breakers, assessments, activities and exercises designed to achieve specific results. Those might include issues such as leadership, problems solving, communication, trust and cooperation. Create the program with your business, your participants and your goals as the focus.
Meeting Design, Built In
Not only do you need an excellent facilitation team for your team building retreat, you also need someone who understands the unique flow of a retreat program. You need to consider what participants need throughout. Do they need more energy, a breaks or time to process learning? Whether for half a day or over the course of several days, there is a time for fun and a time time to get serious. Also, different participants have different needs. Thus, it is important to offer a variety of session styles and formats. You want to design the entire retreat experience from before the retreat, during and after the program.
Ready for a Great Team Building Retreat of Your Own?
When the time comes to plan team building retreats, you can save your time effort by calling in experts. We know how to plan and customize an effective program from start to finish, details, designs, content, activities and all. The PlayWorks Group facilitation team has well over 75 years of experience. We’ve designed and facilitated hundreds of corporate, association, educational and non-profit retreats, meetings and events. Clients include Cox Enterprises, Bard, KPMG, YoungLife, Meeting Professionals International, Abbott Pharmaceuticals, The College Board, Georgia Tech, Coca~Cola, Solera, Turner Construction as well as many others.
See what a client has to say
“When we need a program that delivers strategic thinking, creative thought outside of the “comfort zone”, underscores key content, and still delivers endless fun, we turn to PlayWorks Group. They know how to make it happen, seamlessly and on-budget — every time!”
Give us a call or reach out through the request form to start your planning today!