Do you need to get your team away from the office over the next few months, to recharge the batteries, get some space for the non work conversations or maybe give space to some new members to get to know everyone?
Do you have no idea where to begin with the content of the day? Perhaps you are worried that the day won’t design itself simply by throwing flipchart at the situation?
I hear you. You NEED this time away, a different pace to give space for a different kind of conversation. Except you’re impatient and ideally you’d like to have those conversations out of the way so you can all be aligned straight away and crack on.
Whoah there – there are lots of pitfalls to avoid when designing a team away day that actually works. For example:
- For the pacey leader, your away day pitfall is the fact you want to be 3 months down the line from the away day already and even though your brain knows that’s not possible your emotions are screaming impatience. You’ll potentially not create enough space for the challenges to be explored or want to gloss over them in service of getting to an output.
- For the reflective leader, your away day pitfall is that you may need to psych yourself up for a full day of being in front of your team, with them possibly expecting in-the-moment answers when life is complex and messy and you might not have them yet. You need to ensure you arrive with your tank fuelled!
- For the leader who LOVES being in a room with everyone, your away day pitfall may be that you’ll pack the day with fun, but might forget to link it back to the most important questions of the day, the questions the team really want to get to grips with. You need to sit on your hands and let the complexity emerge without wanting to fix it all in the moment.
Of course, I’m reducing us all to one dimensional stereotypes to make a point. The point being – no one 100% loves team days and there are 1001 ways to design one and quite a few ways they can not quite hit the mark. The problem you have then is that no one wants to come on the next team day you organise, or the one after that. Sigh.
I have three options for you:
- If you want to DIY it, download my Team Away Day Wizard – a planning template based on the way I design team away days which includes some ideas on activities and some pitfalls to avoid.
- If you want an input of ideas or some support planning the content so it plays to your strengths, or space to voice the worries, you’ll want my Away Day Jumpstart package: a 1 hour power hour over Zoom followed by a week of email support for you to use however you see fit: content planning, coaching for you on the delivery, or a mix. £250 + VAT. Email me here to book in.
- The Full Works: Ask me to design and deliver your away day. And if it’s a big team and you need two of us to get the best from the day, herd your troops and be a bit of emotional and practical back up all round, I’ll bring a colleague (someone like Nick from episode 8 of My Emotional Life, or Lucy who I host events with all the time.) You can slot a time into my diary here to have a chat.
And finally, what one thing do you really want to achieve from your away day? What’s the most important outcome?
