Good Leaders: What do you do on retreat?

Last week, I spent three nights and three days “up north” at a Minnesota resort with two really important teams in the ongoing success of Good Leadership Enterprises. The people involved are feeling appreciated, energized, and aligned around where the firm is going. The best part for me: I could literally feel the goodness growing in the coaches and staff, who are the key ingredients in our success.

Old School Benefits

We may be old school, but I’m happy to see the return of the leadership team retreat in business these days. After the events of 9/11 and the Great Recession, destination leadership retreats suffered. And so did the alignment within leadership teams. Why? While webinars, Skype dates, and conference calls have become a part of the steady diet for leaders today, they’ve become business as usual.

Off-site retreats are the special sauce in the diet of good leadership teams, because getting together at a cool place helps build rapport and encourages straight talk about the most important things in the business.

8-8-8 Best Results

For best results, the formula cannot be work, work, work. We prefer to build the 24-hour retreat strategy in three sections: 8 hours of “work,” 8 hours of open time and “play,” and 8 hours for “rest.” That’s how we organized our coaches retreat last week. With a limited amount of time for meeting, our discussions were focused and intense – the best leaders like it that way.

Then, we had plenty of open time for discussions in the sunshine, nice meals, and time around the bonfire in the evening. The closing session in the morning was about honing our craft as coaches and sharpening our coordination skills to deliver world-class coaching to our clients. What fun!

Good leaders invest in the strength and alignment of their top people with off-site retreats. And they allow for time to rest and play, because that’s what really works in building a strong team.

What do you do on retreat?