Milestones deserve to be celebrated, especially when they are as significant as Great Kids Inc marking 25 years of impacting the lives of children and families. I was honored to facilitate a multi-day staff retreat with this amazing team and join them for the celebration of their 25th anniversary. The Great Kids vision is to live in a world where all children feel safe, secure, loved, valued, capable, and curious. Their programs support parents to grow the essential parenting and life skills that will empower them to provide their children with a safe, loving home and the inner strengths to reach their highest developmental potential.May they have many more!
A thoughtfully planned staff retreat fosters team cohesion, rejuvenates energy, and cultivates a collaborative environment. I spent a great day facilitating a staff retreat with the amazing leadership team of West Side Montessori School in New York City. West Side Montessori School is a vibrant, collaborative community of passionate teachers, joyful children and engaged parents. Always great to be back home in NY!
Healthy teams are characterized by shared expectations, mutual support, and a culture of accountability. Board and staff teams both greatly benefit from opportunities to step back from regular business to allow time and space for reflection, evaluation, and critical discussions. When planned thoughtfully and executed well, a retreat can be a vital tool that builds trust and strengthens relationships among team members, while helping to ensure that the team is positioned to govern or lead effectively. A retreat may also allow a divided team to address conflict or pull together to address a critical issue. As you consider your next Board or staff retreat, here are a few thoughts to consider:
Clearly define the purpose of the retreat
Perhaps your organization is launching a new program. Maybe your Board or staff team are working through a particularly challenging or stressful period. Possibly your team would benefit from time spent clarifying roles and expectations and building relationships. Whatever the purpose of your retreat, it is important to “keep the main thing the main thing.” Avoid trying to cram too many goals into one retreat and instead focus on the quality of the experience rather than the quantity of objectives. Most effective retreats have no more than 1-2 key goals.
Facilitation matters
Whether you are working with an external facilitator or facilitating the retreat yourself, remember that ultimately, the wisdom lies with the members of the team who are in the room. A retreat is not an opportunity for one leader to dominate the agenda and present to an audience. Rather, a thoughtful retreat is one in which every member of the team feels seen, heard, and valued. An effective facilitator promotes respectful discussion and debate throughout the day while ensuring that the objectives of the retreat are met.
Document key discussion points and commitments to action
A retreat is an opportunity to embrace change, to build consensus around new activities or behaviors, and to set meaningful priorities. Board and staff teams pay attention not only to what happens at the retreat, but more importantly, what happens after the retreat. Positive energy from a great retreat experience can quickly evaporate if team members perceive “nothing happened” after the retreat. Throughout your Board or staff retreat, ensure that key discussion points are captured, and where commitments have been made, be sure they are recorded and followed up on.
Have you had a particularly moving or impactful experience at a Board retreat? We'd love to hear about it. If you would like to create an engaging and inspiring retreat for your Board team, let's talk!