Logan Chander, Partner at global management consulting firm Schaffer
Consulting, offers best practices in this article about how to ensure
companies get value from their off-site meetings. He suggests making
sure everyone who attends has a "fact book" of relevant data that they
have reviewed ahead of time. He also encourages fostering participation
and group decision making by having the CEO ask open-ended questions and
waiting until the end of a discussion to offer his/her insights.
Excerpt
Off- site meetings are usually touted as a great way to break free from the daily grind and inspire your team to think big. But sometimes, you find yourself leaving the resort, conference center , or, heaven forbid, airport Hilton feeling like you've just lost two days you can never get back.
Done well or done poorly, off-sites can resonate for years. "People will keep buzzing about 'the meeting in the snowstorm' or 'the meeting at the Ritz,' " says Bob Frisch, managing partner of Strategic Offsites Group in Boston. Whether they're tempted to insert an obscenity when describing that meeting depends on how much thought you put into it.
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