For a day and a half each year, our team members turn off computers, ignore email, wear matching T-shirts and play ridiculous games. No, we’re not crazy — we’re focusing on team development and company improvement. We do this through our annual company retreat.
Having fun is absolutely one of our goals, but that’s not the only reason we host our retreat. A retreat’s purpose should be tailored to the stage the company is in and to its team’s biggest challenges.
At Influence & Co., we use themes to define each retreat’s goals. In our earlier years, we focused on our product offerings and a better understanding of our clients’ needs, but now that we’ve begun to grow, we’re concentrating on team bonding. This past year, in particular, we determined new company values, and our retreat offered the perfect opportunity to introduce them to our team.
We’ve found that by creating a clear theme and purpose for each retreat, we can better communicate the getaway’s value to our people and make sure everything we plan aligns with our objective.
Here are some of the ways we’ve found to make our retreats successful.
A retreat doesn’t have to break the bank.
I’ve heard a lot of company leaders say that they can’t afford to put on a retreat for their teams because they don’t have enough profits at the moment. I’d counter that by saying that a company retreat doesn’t have to be expensive.
For example, the first retreat we hosted was simply an afternoon at my co-founder’s house. Our 15 team members ordered pizza (with a coupon), hung out on the patio and had some activities planned. The whole thing probably cost us $200.
As our team has grown, we’ve upgraded our retreat plans a bit, opting for an overnight retreat at an event center in mid-Missouri. With transportation, lodging, food, beverages, matching shirts and other swag, we’ve ended up spending around $400 per person on the retreat, but that expenditure is 100 percent worth it, given the value that our retreats bring.