Planning Retreats

An organizational retreat is your opportunity to get everyone "on the same page," plan for the future, and address specific issues. Careful planning is critical to retreat success.

Assess Needs

• Who should be included? (ie. executive team, membership, advisor(s), staff, guests?)
• What are the goals for the group following the retreat?
• Desired outcomes
• Formal vs. informal
• Answer These Questions!
  • When? (general, then specific)
  • Budget
  • Where? (general, then specific)

Possible Topics to Include

• Communication
• Conflict Management
• Dealing with Difficult People
• Decision Making
• Diversity
• Program Planning
• Time Management

Formats

• Adult learners need a variety of formats or else interest is quickly lost.
• Discussion
• Lecture
• Exercises
• Video
• Role Play
• Rotating Leadership
• Small and Large Groups

Evaluation

Logistics—facility, food, etc.
Sessions—topics, presenters, time frames, did they meet your goals?

Evaluation summaries should be distributed to all participants and filed in such a way that they can be referred to during the planning of next year’s retreat. If they aren’t saved and used in planning, they are of little use in terms of improvement!

Goal Setting

• What goals need to be accomplished with a team building session? 
• What are your group’s needs?
• What are your team’s overall goals?
• What are your team’s long-term goals?  Where do you, as a group, want to be in 1, 2, 3, 4 years?
• What are the roles and responsibilities of team members and leaders?
• How should decisions be made?
• Who makes which decisions?
• Are members satisfied with your organizational structure?
• Evaluate team morale. Can it be improved?  How?
• Identify team strengths and weaknesses.  Are you using your strengths optimally?  How can you improve your weaknesses?
• Problems are met with solutions
• Periodic updates and assessments of the team