🪄 The magic of *how* I deliver the 3 outcomes every effective team retreat needs

"OK, but how, Megan?"

As a purpose-driven leader, it may have resonated when I recently shared with you "The 3 Outcomes Every Effective Team Retreat Should Deliver", which are:

🫱🏼‍🫲🏾 Social connection 🫱🏼‍🫲🏾
🧠 Learning something new 🧠
📋 Getting real work done 📋

Every person attending a retreat/offsite is going to want or expect at least one, if not multiple, of those outcomes achieved -- whether consciously or subconsciously.

And as a leader, you're going to want these three outcomes, as well.

But how do I do it?

While there are many ways I can do this, the most consistent way I achieve these three outcomes is through helping teams learn how to use Creative Problem Solving.

Here's how:

🫱🏼‍🫲🏾 Social connection

Your team members take a brief assessment called FourSight that helps identify how they instinctively approach Creative Problem Solving.

Through a series of dynamic activities (hands-on creation, small group discussions, and more) they have an enjoyable time while also learning more about themselves and each other -- and connecting meaningfully while doing it.

Rather than "connecting through mini golfing," they connect meaningfully by understanding some foundational elements of who everyone is within the context of the team, how to collaborate better together, and more.

🧠 Learning something new

Not only do your team members learn more about themselves and each other, but they also learn about the Creative Problem Solving process.

That's really where the magic is -- the intersection of self/team problem-solving awareness and how the process should be.

They learn a simple framework that serves as the foundation for every time your team is faced with a problem to solve -- especially one that requires an innovation solution.

📋 Getting real work done

Once they've learned the simple-but-powerful Creative Problem Solving process, we apply it on a real problem, challenge, or opportunity that the team is facing.

If we, for example, learn about FourSight and Creative Problem Solving in the morning, then we spend the afternoon working through the process to go from Clarifying the problem >> to Ideating innovation solutions >> to Developing the best solution into plans that are >> to be Implemented.

Adults learn best when they immediately apply what they learned, and ideally in a real life situation. And in this case, they leave with a set of plans for a real challenge that they're facing -- only they've gotten it done efficiently and collaboratively, rather than over several months of one-hour Zoom meetings and in 15-minutes slots of independent work between other meetings.

>>> More on this process and on why I choose FourSight above any other assessment is in this article: "What You Need to Know About FourSight".

If you feel like you're longingly staring though the shop window at that toy you really want, walk on in!

Let's have a little chat about how we might bring these outcomes to your team.

Next Steps

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.