Dan
Corporate offsites are booming again. Offsites have become the #1 reason for corporate teams bringing people together this past year. According to a recent study, “The State of Corporate Travel.”, 77 percent of business travelers state they were excited by the idea of a regular company offsite to connect with co-workers.” Never have employees been this eager to participate in a corporate offsite. And why, you ask? Simply put: employees are more disconnected from their peers and less committed to their jobs than ever before.
The Changing Workplace
Just visit a few offices at random in any large city in the United States during the week and you’ll find half empty offices (if they’re lucky!). Last year, I visited a client at their 2-year-old building on the West Coast. And despite the fact that they invested heavily in building a state-of-the-art office with free breakfast and lunches, game rooms and even a rock-climbing wall, they still struggled to keep the office 50% full.
Employees discovered that they could productively work on a consistent basis without having to commute long hours. And while some traditionalists pine for the days of water cooler banter, many others relish being able to join a Zoom meeting while doing their laundry or waiting for a delivery. In the wake of the Covid pandemic, that genie is not getting back in the bottle any time soon.
3 Options to Restore Employee Connectedness
So, if you’re the head of a department or a division and you’re worrying about how to get your people together, to build relationships and instill real comraderies, you have a few options:
#1: You can create an AMAZING workplace that feels like Disneyworld had a lovechild with Google. Or you can…
#2: Track employee badge swipes and send threatening messages to coerce them into coming into the office. Or you can…
#3: Bring people together periodically, in a highly immersive experience to ensure connectedness, strategic alignment and comradery.
Plenty of companies are experimenting with #1 and #2 with varying success. Bribery wears thin quickly. Threats and corporate internment only serve to disenfranchise workers in the long run. That leaves option #3. Using periodic team offsites as a way to keep the fire burning.
Why Do Corporate Offsites Work?
Your corporate calendar has irrevocably changed. 5 days a week in the office is nearly unheard of nowadays. 2.5 is becoming the standard. That means that most people have to cram 2.5 days of in-person meetings into half the time. Inevitably, the first thing that goes by the wayside is long-lunches, impromptu “pop-ins” and the casual conversations that build social cohesion. Simply put, there’s significantly less time for fraternizing and building social connectedness.
But a well-designed offsite experience can help to bridge this gap. But let me reiterate the caveat: “Well Designed”.
Well designed and facilitated offsites enable colleagues to break away from their routine surroundings and engage in face-to-face interactions that fuel creativity, camaraderie, and innovation. The change in scenery serves as a catalyst for fresh perspectives and ideas. But most importantly, intense and immersive experiences build trust and cohesion. Simply going offsite and delivering a stream of presentations in a frigid ballroom at the Marriot isn’t going to cut it. You need to create an experience every single time that creates memories and meaning together. The experience of being away from the typical work environment, coupled with shared experiences, enhances morale and fosters a sense of belonging amongst team members.
3 Things You Should Do as a Leader?
#1: Define Your Vision of Success
The best way place to start when preparing for a leadership offsite is to ask the following question of yourself and your team:
“If we are successful with this offsite, what outcomes will we have immediately after the offsite is over AND what outcomes might we expect to see in 6 months?”
The more specific and measurable you are, the clearer your event design and more purpose driven your exercises and the more likely you are to have successful outcomes. Set your objectives to be realistic, measurable and relevant to the entire group. While the outcomes are likely to be oriented to work product, you should also establish outcomes related to team bonding and relationship building. And lastly, don’t keep those outcomes a secret! Make it a point to share those outcomes with all your team to ensure understanding and alignment with the expected outcomes – this will make it easier for your participants to hit the ground and drive towards the goal as the offsite unfolds.
#2: Model the Behaviors You Want to See
If your goal is to instill a culture of collaboration and creativity, then you need to not only ‘say it’ but also ‘do it’. And it starts with your senior leaders. Your leaders should not just be present but also role model the behaviors you want the rest of the team to exhibit. To make this happen, it’s important to be clear on your team values and behaviors in advance of the session. And it’s also important to discuss and even practice these behaviors in advance of the offsite.
#3: Allow Yourself to Be Fully Present
If you want to be successful, you need to be comfortable with stepping away from hosting and leading your team offsite. By engaging a session leader that will be accountable for the entire event, you allow yourself to be a participant and also to be involved in the full experience. Make it a point to engage a team to be responsible for hosting, facilitating, coordinating and entertaining. Ideally, they’re external to your organization. But most importantly, your session leader should be a trusted expert who is NOT a participant or a member of the team. They should be a neutral party that has no vested interest. This ensures that they will come in without preconceived notions or a bias to the outcomes that the group is working towards. Remember, your participation as a leader is not a token gesture. It signals to your team that this commitment is important and you’re dedicating time to the team’s collective success.
The business world is always changing. And the workforce and workplace are also rapidly evolving. If you want to be a successful leader in this rapidly changing world, it is vital to reenergize and reconnect your employees with their purpose and with their peers. Bringing your people together builds the bonds that have slowly been disappearing. The time spent together — time away from the office, away from your computers, away from the pressure of daily work – will generate the connectedness that your team needs, and you need as a leader.
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