The offsite gets a promotion: From “nice to have” to “have to have”.
Author: Chris Gasbarro
My email is exploding and it's not what I thought it would be. As in-person gathering returns, the elastic band snap back I thought would consist of inquiries for sales meetings, and customer roadshows, is in fact VP's and HR directors saying, "We need to get a small group of us together to figure out how our organization will connect, work, and meet; and how we will foster our company culture in 2022 and beyond."
In a fire-ready-aim world, it's great to see some leaders and organizations stopping to ask, "How are we going to do this now?" instead of simply returning to a pre-covid model. The opportunity as we emerge is to scrutinize the quarterly town hall, the President's Club trip, the sales team meeting - any/all types of get-togethers. What's necessary? Effective? Culture-enhancing? Is it in person? Hybrid? All of the above? These are challenging and potentially complex questions that require new thinking, creativity, and collaboration.
As our email inboxes at Ember attest, the best place to start is to get a small group together in an environment that lets those conversations breathe and take shape. Retreat, offsite, advance, huddle - call it what you want. It's 4 to 10 people getting away from the home office/corporate office/shared screen to solve something. Yes you can solve that same something over TEAMS calls over the span of weeks or (sadly) months OR you can leverage group thinking over 48 hours where the best idea emerges over the kitchen island or on a walk back from a restaurant. And the benefit of having a clear set of formulated ideas to action after just a few days?
Not only will you save endless hours of start-stop of meetings, the difference between actioning now vs. weeks from now may be a significant strategic benefit over your competitors.
Extend it beyond the C-Suite to a group of new hires, or a manager of a new team of people that are not quite firing on all cylinders. Believe in the simple idea: if you get smart people in a space with minimal distractions and an objective to deliver on, you'll have a measurable output that has the group's buy-in.
We've seen product teams accelerate innovation workflow to reduce 3-6 months in speed to market. We've also seen team members finally have that authentic conversation that moves their relationship forward with them saying, "Why didn't we have this sooner?" The reason being is they are pulled in 20 different directions, added 6 more responsibilities to their job descriptions, and now operate in a hybrid world where it's almost impossible to have deep connections via ZOOM.
Many organizations have benefited over the last two years from the meeting/travel budget being directed to investment in digital, e-commerce, or supply chain upgrades. We also know that your teams were the most disconnected in the history of work and the way you approach this next phase of collaboration is critical. So re-directing those funds back to getting key players together in-person will yield and foster the desperate collaboration and output your organization needs now. The question isn't can you afford it, it's can you afford not to!