Leverage the collective power of your leadership team
There are extraordinary benefits to be derived from gathering the leaders of the business together. The shared minds, wealth of experience and collaborative effort, when well guided, can result in a boon for any business. A great leadership offsite produces tangible advancements like product launch decisions, capital investments and concrete business plans. Such forums should also be leveraged to markedly improve buy-in, re-ignite the fire of enthusiasm. Leaders should walk out of the room with a shared sense of commitment and higher aspirations than before.
But this does not always happen. Lets look at some of the things that get in the way of achieving this goal.
1. The wrong people are in the room
It is all about the people. It sometimes seems so obvious – after all, the leadership team is clearly delineated in the organisation chart. But you should consider the group in connection with what you are trying to achieve. Ask yourself for each person; do they have a stake in solving the problem at hand? If the answer is no, then perhaps they should not attend. Most busy executives would be pleased to find more time in their diary rather than blocking out a day or two for discussions not directly related
Leadership, as it relates to a particular challenge or idea, might stretch beyond the dictates of your formal structure. Are there other people in cross-divisional roles that might add value? Can you find some potential change agents among the ranks that will provide much needed insight?
Who can you invite that will provide the ‘burning deck’. You might consider a more senior exec, board member, relevant keynote speaker or industry expert. In order to challenge the group to think beyond their operational roles, it can be valuable to add an outside voice. Choose somebody with a broad perspective who understands the role of ‘challenger’.
2. Lack of purpose or agreed outcome
Once you have the right people on the bus, there must be a shared clarity of purpose. Whilst some work can be done ahead of time in the form of pre-reading or other communication, focus must always be established at the outset of the session. The leader or facilitator tasked with kicking off the session should clearly state the intended purpose of the session and attendees should be given an opportunity to have their say — what’s missing? Is the outcome achievable? Is this the best use of the collective leadership minds in the room?
Set up is everything, you might be interested in our earlier post outlining best practice to kick off a workshop.
Many people that have been successful in business thrive on solving problems. Try framing your offsite purpose in terms of a challenge to maximise the level of engagement from the group. This approach will also encourage sense of shared ownership in that you are passing responsibility for solving the stated problem to the people in the room.
3. Too much time spent on status quo
Just because you have managed to get a group of senior people together in one room for a day or two is no reason to take any more than 10% of your agenda to focus on the status quo. Too often we see hours pass by with countless presentations from various divisions on ‘the state of the nation’ – financial reports, historical sales data, project updates, marketing plans and support function updates. Although this may be information the group needs to know, this is not the right forum for its dissemination.
Conduct a quick assessment of the previously un-tallied investment of gathering your leadership team together. What is the bottom line for even one day out of the office? Do you still think updates that ensure the group plays a passive role is the best use of time?
The agenda must ensure that the collective talent, knowledge and skills of the people in the room are spent planning for the future.
4. No moderation of discussion
Conversations can derail for a number of reasons. Perhaps there are personality clashes, irreconcilable differences, pet projects, seemingly insurmountable external challenges or very simply, a lack of direction. We have all seen meetings descend into ‘talkfests’ marked by defensiveness and unnecessary aggression.
This can be avoided when there is someone clearly tasked with the role of moderator or facilitator. You don’t necessarily need to appoint an external facilitator, but you must empower somebody to moderate the discussion who is able to maintain a neutral position. This should not be the boss.
5. Next steps are unclear
One of the reasons we become cynical about attending yet another leadership offsite is that nothing was ever done following the last one. Even if a session is quite productive, feelings of positivity will quickly fade if nothing is actually done. The compound effect of leaders attending multiple offsite sessions and not seeing any outputs erodes commitment and willingness to wholeheartedly participate in the future.
Make sure there is sufficient time in your agenda to ensure next steps are defined, ownership is assigned and follow up activities are scheduled.
When carefully planned and well executed a good leadership offsite will add incredible value to your business. Just be aware of avoiding these five common mistakes. Harness the creative thinking of your most important asset – your people.
