How to balance work and play at your team offsite
How to balance work and play at your team offsite
BoomPop Team · 9/29/2022
When engaging employees and retaining top talent, team offsites and retreats are one of your most valuable assets.
In today’s competitive job market, ADP uncovered that employees who feel strongly connected to their employers are 75 times more likely to be engaged at work. And let’s be honest, a virtual meeting simply can’t make the same impact as an in-person company retreat when it comes to creating connections. With the lowest engagement rates in over a decade, hosting a team offsite is more critical than ever.
So, how do you create connections at a team offsite?
It’s simple. You plan a company retreat that effortlessly blends work and play.
Think of your team-building events and offsites as dual-purpose events. Yes, you want to meet business objectives, of course. But you also want to excite your team to create deeper interpersonal connections that lead to a positive company culture. In fact, less than 10% of BoomPop customers surveyed focus solely on work when planning a team retreat. That should tell you something!
Not sure where to start planning a team offsite that balances work and play? Here are a few steps you can take to get started…
Host a management meeting to lay the foundation
As you start the event planning process to design a company offsite in a dreamy locale that cultivates relationships and revitalizes engagement, it’s critical to involve management. Every corporate event planning process should start with a strategy session at the C-suite level!
Ask a few questions to build the basis of your company retreat strategy:
Why are you hosting a company retreat or team offsite?
There are so many different reasons to host a team offsite.
It could be an incentive trip for sales success, a kickoff meeting to set the stage for a powerful year, a brainstorming retreat to cultivate new ideas and services—the list goes on.
With the answers to this question, the breakdown of work versus play will be different.
For example, the incentive trip should be 90-100% fun, whereas the brainstorming retreat may warrant a 60/40 breakdown because the goal is creativity and strategizing. Or, in the case of the kickoff meeting, 35/65 because you want to explain the strategic vision for the year with some goal-setting activities, but mostly hype people up about what’s to come with their teams.
What resources can you afford to dedicate?
Leading with the goals set behind your “why” in the first question, determine how long you’d like the company retreat to be and how much you can invest financially to achieve the goals set forth. With this, you’ll be ready to move on to the next step.
Distribute a pulse survey & listen to your team’s responses
It’s important to remember that a successful team offsite isn’t just about management goals. The key to success is asking your employees what they want and need as well. Ninety-two percent of highly engaged employees reported feeling heard in their organization, versus only thirty percent of highly disengaged employees. Those organizations who actively listen to their team will be the ones to build longevity and growth.
So, the first step here is deploying an effective pulse survey. These quick, beneficial surveys are a great opportunity to see what’s working, what’s not, what gaps need to be filled, what employees are interested in learning about, etc. While these can be routine surveys, you can also create one specifically to inform team offsite planning decisions.
Use the responses to guide what types of activities you want to add and the breakdown between work and play. For example, if there seems to be a lot of negativity in survey responses, add a mindset workshop. Perhaps employees are happy but feel like they don’t know their team members very well. In this case, offer small group breakout sessions with prompted questions to get big conversations started, followed by an epic dining experience.
You get the picture! This is a great place to brainstorm how to spark those connections that lead to engagement.
Strategize for ultimate team offsite success that sparks connections
Finally, it’s time to put it all together. Meshing management's goals with your team's desires is the final step to creating a company offsite that will cultivate engagement and ROI.
Appoint a team lead to synthesize management goals and team responses and propose action items to create an agenda that will fulfill the wants and needs of both parties.
The success of your team offsite starts with the event planning process and the strategy you design. Be intentional, listen to your team, and you’ll manifest big change for your organization. Our skilled team is ready to help you get started.
Featured resources
8 Steps for Planning Your Company Retreat
A resource for new organizers on creating fun, productive, and successful corporate events.
