When your association needs to gain perspective on a situation and initiate change, a retreat is the way to go. Unlike a typical board meeting, where the business of running the association is the priority — the retreat has loftier goals. The following 10 steps will help you to design and implement an effective retreat:
Make sure that the retreat format suits your goals. Also make sure that you have enough time to plan properly: The ideal time frame for organizing a retreat is four months for a group of 15 or fewer people.
Unlike meetings, which can have multiple purposes and are often led by a staff or volunteer, retreats begin with specific goals to create some kind of change and typically are led by outside experts. Also, they don't end when attendees go home, but include post-retreat sessions to ensure that ideas that were generated are translated into action.
The convener — or conveners — decides which subjects to explore and what outcomes are expected. The convener also communicates and delegates the arrangements for the event to the planners, who handle the logistics. On the content side, the convener works with the facilitator to establish the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the retreat.
The biggest advantage of using a single person as convener is efficiency. The greatest weakness is limited perspective. The greatest advantage of a group of conveners is potentially more buy-in. On the other hand, the process can get bogged down because of multiple agendas.
Beware: Every professional facilitator I know will tell you that the biggest problem in setting up a successful retreat is access to the convener, so you need to choose someone who is accessible and responsive and who communicates clearly. Also important: Choose conveners who are trusted and who will not feed the rumor mill.
Facilitation is a combination of soft and hard skills, people skills as well as goal-setting, assertiveness, and execution skills.
When you interview prospects, consider the following: How broad is their background? Do they have at least 10 years of experience? Have they ever run a business? Do they have the charisma or inspirational quality that you're looking for? Remember, the facilitator will have to take the edge off sometimes difficult subjects.
This should include at least one tangible component and several intangible ones. An experienced facilitator will help you to understand what can be achieved in the allotted time. Like a good novel, retreats follow an arc: situation, crisis, and resolution. First, you explore the situation, identifying what is or could become a crisis. Then you make decisions associated with the resolution of that potential crisis. Finally, you design and assign the initial steps to enact the decisions. Typically, the optimal length of time you will need to accomplish this is 2.5 days away from the familiarity of home and office.
Can you still have a retreat if taking 2.5 days is not possible? Sure. A skilled facilitator can help you to limit your agenda and can suggest the most workable alternatives.
If appropriate and time allows, the convener provides a list of participants and representative nonparticipants, including what we call “informal leaders,” the more outspoken potential attendees (positive or negative) who are listened to within the association. An announcement is made that an outsider is going to be talking with this group of people to do a needs assessment. The facilitator, with the aid of the convener, prepares a list of questions, the answers to which will be useful during the retreat. (Remember, at this point the retreat has not been announced.) All retreat participants, however, are required to participate in the interviews.
The facilitator and the convener then decide when and how to give the persons interviewed feedback on whatever is undertaken as a result of the interviews. Important: Always provide feedback. Trust is built by kept agreements.
The facilitator, ideally armed with input from the members and desired outcomes from the convener, evaluates the interviews to arrive at an agenda. Any changes in the desired outcomes are proposed by the facilitator to the convener. Final agreements are made as to retreat objectives. Important: Good retreats depend on spontaneity, and agendas flex with the outcome of each item.
The convener should be the one to announce, in writing, the decision to hold a retreat and the motive behind it. Remember that this is really the announcement of change brewing. This is sure to raise fears such as: Will I have to do something different? Will I still be needed? What effect will this have on my schedule, my life, my ego?
Expect and respect these usually unexpressed fears. Never say: “You have nothing to worry about,” because you don't know that. From an attendee's point of view, any change may be a worry. You might say: “I wish I could reassure everyone. I'm going into this open to whatever changes are best for the organization. Any time any of us is faced with change, we worry.”
The tone of the event is dictated in part by the choice of facility. Most companies choose a property that is nice — but not luxurious — as well as functional, interesting, and comfortable. Retreats typically exclude alcohol, and no guests are invited. They include plenty of free time for participants to spend alone or in casual groups that form after the meeting to continue the discussion.
At the start of the conference, it's important to set ground rules, such as: Speak openly, honestly, and only for yourself; safeguard other participants' confidentiality; pagers and cell phones off.
The convener summarizes and distributes the retreat results and announces any assignments. He or she also creates a post-retreat schedule, a general timeline for any projects that may be implemented as a result of retreat decisions. (This is the last thing the participants establish before leaving.)
The post-retreat report may include a general overview and the first projects to be undertaken.
The difference between retreats and other meeting formats is that they typically include one or more follow-up meetings. Reconvene the group for a day, either in person or via video- or audioconference (in person, off-site usually works best) to report progress, revamp timelines, and get any stuck projects unstuck.
Claire Crittenden founded Integrative Performance Technologies (www.iptlive.com), Rochester, N.Y., in 1971. She and her partner, Peter Naylor, have created The High Performance Management Technology, a system of strategies and techniques based on scientific models. Crittenden leads retreats, workshops, seminars, and meetings nationally.