5 Ways to Keep Your Team Retreat Energy Going Throughout the Year
Congratulations, you had a terrific team retreat! The Connection Moment started your gathering with optimism and community, and from there, you and your team developed ambitious, strategic plans. Now you want to continue the momentum post-retreat, but you’re not sure what to do next. With some planning and intention, you can infuse the energy and community you created during your retreat into everyday work life to help your team feel motivated and engaged throughout the year.
Here are five ways to keep your team retreat energy going:
1. Keep Visual Reminders of Your Retreat
Keep your retreat front of mind for your team by leveraging your visual assets. Hang up the wall post-it notes you used for brainstorming in a hallway or conference room. Display retreat photos on a bulletin board in the office or decorate the breakroom with the creative projects you made together. Print out visuals from your retreat activities, such as your team values, individual team member strengths, or favorite mentor names, so each team member can keep them by their desk.
2. Plan a Reflection Point
At an upcoming team meeting or all-staff, plan a reflection point to continue a topic of discussion, share an update, and review the status of the goals you set. Leaders can help build trust by proactively giving updates on retreat topics or strategy discussions. Ask team members to share how they’ve implemented what they learned in the training session. Discuss (and celebrate!) the progress you’ve made individually and collectively.
3. Continue Using Retreat Language
Make a conscious effort to continue the “retreat language” in your ongoing team conversations. If you talked about identifying and leveraging superpowers, acknowledge team members’ strengths in 1:1s and incorporate into performance evaluations a goal to leverage their strengths to grow the organization. When you practiced using, “Yes, and” to build collaborative dialogue during the retreat, use this language with your colleagues back on campus. (It really does improve communication!) Leaders build trust when things don’t just happen at the retreat, but become part of your workplace culture.
4. Ask for Feedback
Take time to ask your team what worked well at the retreat and what they might do differently in the future. Depending on your team size, you can send out a survey or discuss in 1:1s. Asking for feedback shows you honor the time they spent together, and you care about their perspective. Plus, you’ll likely get valuable insights to help you plan for your next retreat.
5. Start Planning Your Next Retreat
In a distributed team, you’ll ideally want to find ways to bring everyone together more than once a year. Develop a cadence for your team retreats (e.g. January and August) and announce the general timeline (and specific dates) as soon as possible, so your team has something to look forward to! Remember, learning and professional development can happen beyond a retreat. Consider developing manager cohort training, social gatherings, book clubs, and coffee with the VP.
It takes significant effort to create a meaningful gathering for your team, so find ways to keep your retreat energy throughout the year to continue to strengthen your workplace culture.