The 3 Outcomes Every Effective Team Retreat Should Deliver

So what happens when you tell your team that you’re going to host a team retreat?

You’ve got some people who say, “Oh good, we’re going to get to know each other better. This is going to be fun!”

There are others who think, “Okay, this is good. We’re going to get some professional development. This is going to be fantastic. We can learn new things, build skills, and we always need to be learning and growing together.”

And then there are people who think, “I can’t believe you’re taking me away from work. I have so much to do. I don’t have time for this. I have to do my job.”

The 3 Mindsets We're Designing For

So you’ve got those three different mindsets, and there are people who overlap and may have more than one of those at once.

Every time I design a team retreat, I think about all three of those perspectives.

I think about what outcomes we really need to get from this session, in addition to the typical objectives of what the team specifically needs to do.

Overview: The 3 Core Outcomes of a Team Retreat

I design for three main outcomes.

Outcome 1: The Social Component

The first is addressing the social component—helping people come together and work better together by getting to know each other better.

That builds trust, builds psychological safety, and is simply more fun.

I do this in a way that isn’t forced or awkward, like making everyone go mini-golfing or share their favorite ice cream flavor or a childhood story.

It’s done in a way that supports the growth of the team and the work the team needs to do.

There is a social component where people get to know each other better.

Outcome 2: Growth & Professional Development

The second component is growth.

This is where people are learning something new—something they can apply in their work and use with each other—so they develop a shared language for how they work together.

This growth component is professional development, but it’s not just training. It’s applied and interactive.

Outcome 3: Productive, Meaningful Output

The third component I always think about is for those disgruntled people who, understandably, have too much to do.

It’s hard to take time away when work and personal life are piling up. Stepping away is difficult.

For those people, I always make sure there is some productive output—a deliverable at the end that feels like real work that was done together.

It’s work that was done more efficiently and better than it would have been through a bunch of one-hour Zoom calls spread across a series of months.

What's Coming Next

Those are the three outcomes I always think about when designing a team retreat, and they’re things you should hope to achieve as well.

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be rolling out a series where I address all three of those components—how I do it, why I do it, and examples of successes we’ve had. So, follow along!

And if right now you’re thinking, “Yes, Megan, that’s exactly what I need,” then reach out and we can book some time together.

In the meantime, I hope you follow along and learn more about my approach to team retreats to achieve all three of those important outcomes.

To get started with me, your first step would be to book a Discovery Call here.

(If the process of doing that seems intimidating, I'd encourage you to take a peek at my article "Hiring a Consultant Shouldn’t Be Hard — Here’s How I Make It Easy.")

If you're not quite ready for that, feel free to get to know me better from a distance by joining my e-newsletter or following me on LinkedIn.

Looking forward to it!

--Megan

About Megan E. Mozina (she/her)

As Owner and Principal of Cresta Solutions, I serve as a strategic partner to purpose-driven leaders when they need their teams to innovate and collaborate in order to deliver on strategic change initiatives. To get there, I serve as a facilitator, consultant, and executive coach who leverages expertise in Creative Problem Solving, Team Building, Organizational Change Management, and Strategic Initiatives to ensure my clients get innovation-focused results. I bring over fifteen years of diverse experiences with purpose-driven organizations across four continents. To ensure that changes work and goals are achieved, I use my facilitation superpower to supercharge team collaboration and output. 

I hold a Masters from The George Washington University’s Graduate School of Education & Human Development and a Bachelors from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I am certified in Change Management, Strategic Planning, and Creative Problem Solving (FourSight®), with additional formal training in Lean Process Improvement, Project Management, and People Management. I regularly present at regional and international conferences on topics such as facilitation, change management, and project leadership. I’m proud to have been a teacher in South Korea and a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras.

I’ve lived in five countries, so while I bring my Midwestern friendliness, work ethic, and accent everywhere I go, I see the world through a global perspective. I consume dark chocolate daily, can talk about books all day, and think that Lake Michigan might be my soul mate.

Learn more about my story here: https://www.crestasolutions.com/about.