How to Host a Successful Work Retreat

Sometimes, a startup is only as good as the team you’ve built. In honor of the team and the dreaded team-building exercises, today we talk about how to host a successful work retreat.

1. Gauge and/or excite your team’s interest

When you mention “work retreat,” many people start to figure out their excuses on how to get out of it. While that may not always be the case, before you start planning a work retreat, mention it around the office. Find out what kind of work retreat people would actually want to go on. If you open up a dialogue about the possibilities rather than dictate what is going to happen, your team will already start to feel the excitement.

Remember, you want your retreat to improve morale, not destroy it.

2. Bring good food

This may sound odd, but you want to get a good food spread. It’s important to keep you team fueled and fueled in a way that they want. Get some stuff for the health nuts as well as the food junkies. Make sure the coffee flows free. This isn’t a seminar or a conference, this is supposed to be a time for you and your team to get to know one another. They will congregate around the food table.

And, on that note:

3. Encourage social time

A work retreat is not a lecture.

Read that again.

You don’t have a work retreat to lecture your team. You can lecture your team at any time. Make the retreat something different. Throughout the day, have times planned when people can sit down, relax, and socialize. Lunch is obviously a big opportunity for socializing, but also try to think of other times when you can break for some social time.

4. Make an agenda

Of course, you want to know what you’re doing at your work retreat. You should make out a schedule to determine what you’ll be doing and when. But, don’t be afraid to throw out the agenda. If something is going well and people are connecting, let them lead you where you want to go. You can always pick up the other stuff later.

What are your tips on throwing a positive work retreat? Do you have a great work retreat story? Share in the comments!