Most organizations have recurring, regularly-scheduled team meetings. These are typically weekly or monthly times when team members get together to provide updates on their work and get direction and/or news from management. Although this kind of meeting may be necessary for project management and reporting, it doesn’t have the power of a true team retreat. I suggest university teams have a retreat once or twice per year.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce asserts there are eight benefits to team retreats:

• Fulfills the desire for in-person contact
• Strengthens professional connections
• Encourages creativity
• Sparks excitement
• Encourages innovation
• Boosts employee morale
• Combats loneliness
• Improves culture

A team retreat can also be beneficial by building trust among the members of the group.

I contend that the following characteristics define a “true” retreat.

It takes place away from the normal work area

Here are some ideas, depending on your budget.

• Rent a board room (usually one big table surrounded by 8-10 chairs) at a local hotel. In my experience, typical pricing is between $300 and $1,500 per day.
• Rent a meeting room at a location that specializes in retreats, no more than an hour drive in distance from the workplace. The great thing about retreat destinations is that they usually have facilities you can use for physical engagement and they normally offer catering onsite. These facilities can be quite expensive. Some of them do have smaller meeting room sizes, which can bring the cost down. For instance, for a small room/cabin, plus access to amenities like a gaming room and bicycles, my team was able to find a location about an hour away for $300 plus lunch costs for the day.
• Churches have several meeting rooms and might be free or very low-cost. The last retreat I did with my Baylor team was in a Sunday school room at my local church.
• Some local restaurants have meeting rooms for rent.
• A different building on your own campus.
• Rent a meeting room at a facility with flexible coworking spaces.
• A friend’s ranch, farm or cabin.

It lasts at least one entire day

I have found that many team members have no appetite for an overnight retreat, but you should aim for at least a full day away from your office. This is key to enabling the team to get into a “zone” of maximum creativity and deep thinking.

It includes creativity exercises

A fun creativity component on your agenda can encourage divergent thinking and result in some powerful new ideas.

• Play a board game, especially ones that emphasize creativity, such as my all-time favorite Cranium, or Ransom Notes, What Do You Meme, Pictionary, etc. There are so many great games available!
• Go to lunch and a movie. Take the pressure off. We can’t be idea machines non-stop, expected to blurt out brilliant creative ideas on cue.
• Creativity sessions led by someone outside the team help get the group thinking divergently. (I offer this service as part of my consulting practice.)
• Use a creativity tool such as the Creative Whack Pack or Pip Decks to help spark inspiration.

It includes some kind of physical engagement

• Escape rooms are outstanding for getting a team working together to solve clues.
• Cook! Some of the best retreats I’ve had include the team cooking lunch together. Is there a cooking school nearby that would “teach” the team how to cook a dish? If that’s not available, then team members could each bring some of the ingredients. This is not a potluck where people bring a ready-to-eat dish. The beauty is in the communal cooking activity.
• Hatchet throwing (don’t try this at home; go to a hatchet-throwing business)!
• Any number of other games, such as Ping-Pong, air hockey, etc.

It includes serious solution-driven conversation about one or two issues currently being faced by the team

Don’t save up all the problems for one retreat. Focus on one or two issues for your best chance to be effective and get usable results.

Optional

If the issue you need to tackle involves another team, then invite them to join your retreat—but only for an hour or two. This is helpful if there is a work process that needs to be hashed out between teams that work together on projects. You might also want to include an outside consultant to help facilitate the day or have your outside agency attend. Do not have the other team stay for the entire retreat, as they can inadvertently appropriate your agenda.

Team retreats provide a wonderful opportunity to solve problems and do serious planning, but have fun together, too. Gather up!