Janet was a manager for an insurance company and she complained, "We don't work together as a team!" Larry, her human resources consultant said, "Everyone just seems to do their own thing, they don't share information, don't try to help each other, and just don't seem to care about anyone else's problems. What we need is a team building offsite!" The two of them put together a two-day offsite for their team at a local resort. Because Janet wanted to fix the problem ASAP they had it just a few days later. Larry worked hard on putting together a schedule of trust building, ice breaking, and brainstorming.
During day one of the offsite only half of Janet's team was there. The other half were on an important project that needed to get done by the end of the week. The half that were there did the activities politely but thought they were too touchy-feely. They knew it was because Janet was trying to force team building. The brainstorming sessions showed promise but no one even took notes. In the end, the team saw the offsite as a failure.
You might think this is an exaggeration, but for some people it resembles an offsite they've been a part of. They can't get the team focused on solving a problem, putting a strategy into focus or coming up with a new way of doing things. One of the best things that can come from an offsite, though, is team building. If you do it right, it can bring minds together. If done wrong, people will feel their time is wasted which makes you look like a bad leader.
Do you want your offsites to be successful at team-building while also ensuring productivity? If so, you should consider the following ideas:
Have a clear purpose for the offsite - Define some clear business reason for having the offsite. Consider things such as developing strategic goals for the upcoming fiscal year, account planning for strategic customers, or generating solution alternatives for a key business problem. If you make the goal of the offsite "Team Building" then your team is likely to look at the offsite as a waste of time that will have no real business benefit. Do your team building under the guise of solving a problem or defining the future.
Provide plenty of time for networking - Give ample time during the day and evening for the team to have snacks, enjoy beverages, and just talk about whatever strikes them. Team building starts with building relationships, and building relationships starts with getting to know each other. Allow for networking time to be free and unscripted and let the team enjoy some casual conversation with each other.
Try your best not to hold the offsite during a particularly busy time, as you want your team members' full attention. You don't want them to be constantly checking emails or leaving to make phone calls. Attempt to hold your offsite during a slow period. As is the case with most businesses, there may not be a prime "slow" time during which to hold the offsite, but you want to make sure team members are not already taking on more work than they can handle.
Holding an overnight offsite session is a good idea to help build strong ties between team members. Building these ties results in a great base for teamwork and future business strength. Some great ideas have come out of a late night meeting over a meal with employees solving business problems or brainstorming new ideas. An even greater benefit is the renewed confidence the team has and the feeling that they can conquer any business obstacles so long as they work as a team.
In my experience with offsites, one of the things that frustrates me the most is that the great ideas which came from the offsite are never implemented, since there was never any follow-up. We'll need to take action with a follow-up plan to keep the excitement going. This includes dates, tasks and owners to ensure that the ideas we brainstorm will actually get implemented. We have to create and use a follow-up plan so that the team doesn't perceive the whole offsite as a waste of their time.
