Offsites
There are at least six important reasons for having off-site meetings:
- To gain a shared understanding of the business (diagnostic focus)
- To define the vision and create a strategy (strategy focus)
- To change the way the team works together (team-process focus)
- To build or alter relationships in the group (relationship focus)
- To develop an plan and commit to achieving it (planning focus)
- To address conflicts and negoatiate agreements (conflict-resolution focus)
(Watkins 2013, chap. 7)
Don’t try to do too much in a single off-site meeting. You can’t realistically accomplish more than two of the goals outlined earlier in a day or two.
(Watkins 2013, chap. 7)
You can’t try to define the vision and create a strategy without first establishing the right foundation: a shared understanding of the business environment (diagnostic focus) and workplace relationships (relationship focus) (Watkins 2013, chap. 7)
Watkins, Michael. 2013. The First 90 Days, Updated and Expanded: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter. Harvard Business Review Press.