Reflective Retreats:
What You Can Do For Yourselves...

Ask Why?

Is a retreat really appropriate right now? Some good reasons to have one include:

the group needs to be brought together and “buy in” to common goals or actions, i.e. team building

you need to evaluate where you are
you’ve had a growth spurt or the reverse
it’s been a rough year and people need to reconnect
the mission has gotten fuzzy
there are too many activities and not enough focus
there is a major change, such as in staff or other players
it’s been a year since you did the last one
you have a plan and need to see how you’re doing
you don’t have a plan and realize that you need one.


Don't have a retreat when:

you aren’t willing to invest in the preparation that will make it successful – such as making sure everyone who will attend has input on the agenda.

there are strong factions who have not been communicating, and the retreat is the first opportunity.
the atmosphere is one of showdown rather than coming together for a purpose. (In that case, do more preparation.)
you have to force more than a few people to come.
you don’t have clear, distinct outcomes that you are working toward, which most people present want to achieve.





Who?

Who should participate? Depending on what you are trying to accomplish and your organizational type and style, the answer may be:

a nonprofit Board plus the Executive Director and key staff, with an executive session if needed,

everyone in an organization which needs all hands on deck for a new program or procedure,
everyone in an organization where people aren’t getting along well, or leadership first followed by the full group,
“grassroots” employees whose job is to give input to management for most of the time, then bringing in the upper levels later,
managers and supervisors who are responsible for a planning process, including some people who will have to implement it if appropriate, or/and
the “whole system” when you are trying to design or plan something that affects many people in different institutions (such as criminal justice, battered women’s shelters, social service agencies, and so on).




What?
Consult key people who will be present about what topics and issues matter to them, and make it clear that this is input, not the last word. One of an outside facilitator’s best roles can be to help you narrow down what really can be done in the given time and space.

If you’ve had a retreat before, go back to the evaluations, if any, and ask people what they liked and want to change.

Collect background material about the issues and be sure everyone is well informed before the meeting.


How?

Decide whether you want to create and facilitate an agenda yourself, or get help. You can handle it in-house if:

you have someone trained on the staff who is trusted and respected as being as neutral as any insider can be,

the subject matter is easy and uncontroversial,
your major purpose is to have a nice time together so that product outcomes are not driving the retreat,
you have plenty of time for discussion so little moderating or focusing will be needed.




Click the links below to keep reading:
    When To Use An Outside Facilitator...
    Planning With Less Pain...
    Our Approach To Retreats...
    As Your Facilitator, You Can Expect Me To...
    As A Group Member, I Ask You To...






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© Mary Dingee Fillmore, 2004. Copy with permission from [email protected]