How to Bring Your Team Together?

The transition to fully remote companies has accelerated these last few years. As a matter of fact, some companies have operated fully online since their inception. Despite the many benefits of online work, there is one particular aspect that remote teams lack: face-to-face interaction. Lunch break chats and after-work happy hours are not part of these employee’s daily life. In addition, many of them come from different nationalities and backgrounds which can make things even more complicated. Therefore, staff retreats are one of the best solutions to bring these teams together and contribute to team building. Lately, it has become a trend as it is proven that taking your team on a trip with unusual settings and activities can increase their commitment and productivity. However, planning such events is not a piece of cake.

So how can you put together the right retreat for you? The first tip is to plan ahead. Think of retreats the same as planning a multi-day wedding. You will need to plan ideally 6 months ahead in order to get the right transport, venues, accommodation, food, trainer, activities, and so on. The best choice is to work with a professional team that can help you achieve the right results. Check out our previous retreats.

The second tip, would be to keep in mind what your goals for this trip are. Of course, it would be nice to just go on a vacation and chill by the beach. However, retreats must have a purpose. The overall goal is to make each team member return back to work more inspired, connected, and clear about the vision of the company. How you will achieve that depends on what your team currently lacks. These can be discussed with your retreat planner  in order to choose the right trainer and activities for you.

The last tip, and a very important one, is to clearly set your budget. Training retreats can get expensive. There are examples of big foreign companies whose retreats have cost anywhere between $250 per person a night to $1000 per person a night. Sometimes, extra activities have additional costs too. Therefore, you should clearly decide on a budget as soon as you meet with your retreat planner.

Everything we mentioned above is meant to assure you of a smooth experience. However, when managing big groups of people in a retreat setting it is normal to have some setbacks. What is most important, is to understand that despite being outside of your usual workspace, retreats are still a work function. As a result, it is expected to respect certain behavior guidelines and take the designated activities seriously. Especially, if you are meeting your coworkers face-to-face for the first time, it is important to give your best and act respectfully.

So, as long as you plan carefully for a retreat and approach it with an open mind and high spirits, this experience can be one of the best investments for your staff.