Retreats – Creating An Environment For Success
May 4, 2009 by Steve Epner
Meetings and retreats are used for many different purposes. Sometimes they are to inform a group about decisions that have been made. Other times they are used to develop the strategic or tactical questions that must be answered prior to announcing results internally or to the public.
Environment is often ignored for regular Board meeting, but without great harm. Just about any reasonable meeting space can be made to work. A RETREAT, where the discussion will be longer, more spirited (a nice way to say argumentative) and have serious long-term consequences for the organization is where control of the environment is important.
The environment includes all of the factors around the physical setting of the meeting. It can also include general rules of the meeting. These help set the tone and can greatly influence the results.
We are social animals. Getting together is important any time we have to work out differences, resolve issues or attempt to look into the future. Our meetings can succeed or fail for a large number of reasons. The objective here is to eliminate the environment as a cause of failure.
As with any prescriptive advice, there is always a caveat. When dealing with human beings, there are few absolute answers. If you are uncomfortable with any aspect of the following recommendation, change it. This is not an all or nothing set of suggestions. Use what makes sense to you, the group, the situation and your budget.
Setting up an environment for success may not be difficult, but it is vitally important. While none of the following suggestions are very involved, it takes time and money to do them all. Some meetings are held at the last minute and some groups will have little or no leeway on where to meet or how much money can be spent. Not every aspect of the perfect meeting can be done every time. Do what you can. These ideas work.
Circumstances and budgets have forced all of us to hold meetings in less than ideal circumstances. A poor environment may add a level of complexity and make the facilitator’s job more difficult. It does not make it impossible. Just remember, small changes to the environment can have a big impact on the retreat. Do what you can and take advantage of the easy ideas.
You can read the rest of the chapter from Steve’s book on Retreats by downloading the .pdf below:
