Simple Ways To Increase The Impact Of Your Next Offsite

Corporate offsites are back on, and in a big way. More companies are having at least one offsite a year than they were pre-pandemic – 40% of companies are having three or more – and budgets are increasing. Group sizes are growing, emphasis is being placed on creating connection, and the meetings themselves are spanning more days.

This is all good news. Bringing a team together creates an important opportunity to sync up on the marketplace, the most important opportunities to pursue, and how you will achieve your goals, all while delivering the serotonin-boosting benefits of bringing humans together in person.

Unfortunately, despite the bigger budgets and flashier entertainment options, these amped-up offsites aren’t guaranteed to deliver amped-up results. In fact, the real objectives of these events often get lost in the melee.

Before we all get on the bus to head to Top Golf or the improv show, let’s take a moment to remember why we’re here – and how to really make the best of the time.

Start with purpose

All productive meetings start with purpose. Offsites are a huge investment of time and resources, and not just for the company – time away from real life at home and at the office isn’t easy for the participants. Make this investment feel worth it by communicating early and often about the objectives of the meeting. What are we trying to solve for, and how is an offsite uniquely suited for this task? By the time the meeting is over, what will be different? What will we have created together? And what will happen to it once everyone is back to business as usual?

Create a common thread

Because offsites are one of the few times a whole team or organization gets together, it’s easy to end up with a Frankenstein agenda, overstuffed with too many disparate parts. When we work with clients to plan offsites, we’re sure to anchor on a theme – a key thread, closely aligned to the meeting’s central purpose, that can be pulled through the entirety of the meeting to stitch all of the pieces together. Think of it as the offsite’s brand.

For example, we recently planned an offsite for a large, international pharmaceutical team for which cross-functional collaboration is critical. Our theme, It’s In Our DNA, worked on several levels. We focused one day on development – a strengths assessment and feedback training – and DNA became a symbol for what each unique individual brought to the team. As we shifted our focus to cross-functional work, it became emblematic of the DNA of the team, and how the individual strands come together to create a stronger whole. In the evenings, our DNA was all about camaraderie, and how integral the team’s personal connections were to their collective, professional success.

Get some leverage

Because offsites are an infrequent occurrence, planning them often falls to individuals with already-full day jobs for whom a little leverage can go a long way. A dedicated offsite designer brings the fresh headspace needed to create the kinds of special touches (like a creative, overarching theme) that make a meeting both meaningful and memorable. And a third-party facilitator allows the internal team to focus their energy on what matters – participating in the meeting – instead of everything that comes with pulling it off.

Offsites are a big investment that should net big returns. Make sure yours does by keeping the why at the center – maybe held in place by a few helping hands.