3 Helpful Tips for Organizing a Team-Building Retreat

The sole purpose of team building exercises is to promote cooperation among team members, increase employee job satisfaction rates, promote the understanding of corporate goals, and boost overall employee performance. They can also, if not properly executed, do absolutely nothing.

Having worked with numerous corporations, our Modesto car service has gotten quite familiar with the mechanics behind team-building events. We have decided to share some of the knowledge we have acquired and discuss three crucial tips for organizing a successful team-building retreat.

Identify Issues and Objectives

What is the objective of the event? What problems do you intend to address and solve?

Team building events don’t just happen, you organize them for a reason, and the reason behind the event should not leave your mind during the planning process. If you have been tasked with organizing a team-building activity, ask yourself why, and when planning for the event itself, ask yourself how the location, scheduled activities, speeches etc. are going to help achieve the objectives of the event.

Remember, modeling your team building event around another corporation’s event is insufficient unless of course, they had the exact same objectives when they organized their team-building event. A day out with the team is not going to solve the issues within your organization, but an event tailored to address specific issues will help. So gather as much information as you can on the objectives of the event, possible solutions to issues, and ensure that every aspect of the event is relevant and that each aspect goes towards addressing the issues that inspired the team building event in one way or another.

Choose a Budget and a Location

These are also extremely crucial aspects to consider if you want to have a successful team-building event. Once you have understood the issues you are addressing and what the team-building event is meant to attain, decide on a location within the organization’s budget that allows you to see through the team-building retreat’s objectives.

For example, if the event is simply meant to reinforce your employees’ morale after the completion of a major project, you may want to budget for an off-site, outdoor location, where employees can feel relaxed and rewarded. However, if the objective is to address poor communication amongst employees in the organization, you may want to budget for a conference center where everyone participates and shares ideas in an orderly fashion. You may also want to budget for a speaker who will educate your employees on the workings of effective communication.

Schedule it for an Appropriate Time

You have to understand that most people don’t want to be at work any longer than they have to. Don’t get us wrong, this has nothing to do with lack of satisfaction in their jobs; rather, it is motivated by a natural need to have a work-life balance. They want to spend time with their families and friends when they’re not at work, they want to indulge in that hobby that they have, they want to catch up on their favorite shows, they want to rest and just ease their minds after a long day, there are just so many reasons.

Scheduling a team-building event on your employees’ personal time, for example, weekends may prove detrimental to the objectives of the event. Instead, schedule team-building events for working hours and your employees are bound to be more engaged and more receptive.