A company off-site is a widely used technique that consists of providing the possibility of performing professional activities outside of the office.
What is a company offsite?
Generally an offsite involves the entire company or the executives and managers of every department. These gatherings allow decision makers to tackle business-related issues and brainstorm with others in a new environment.
Why is hosting an offsite important?
Although off-sites vary in their location, duration and number of attendees, the importance of hosting these is always apparent. Most offsite meeting places are creatively designed to boost the team morale by aligning on company values and the mission for the quarter/year.
The smallest change in atmosphere can have a big impact on an individual’s mood and attitude towards the tasks that lay ahead. It is essential for companies to make an effort in expanding their important meetings from a routine boardroom and explore offsite venues.
Placing your team in an entirely new environment for a day, weekend, or a week can yield a variety of positive results. These positive results are an outcome of breaking hierarchical ranks to enhance productivity. Employees feel more freedom in out-of-office environments to share their ideas, speak more openly, and collaborate when titles and office walls are not a factor. In addition, these off-sites offer an opportunity for everyone to bond more, by sharing stories and learning more about each other in a less tense environment. Additionally, it’s helpful for employees to bounce ideas off others who they may not typically hold meetings with or
How to plan an offsite?
Where: The destination for a company offsite can be determined by various factors. By taking into consideration: your goals for the offsite, where your office is located, the budget set in place and where your attendees will be travelling from, you’ll be able to narrow down your options and connect with those venues to work out the details and see which location best meets your needs. Some of the most common destinations for off-sites across North America include: San Francisco, Boston, Whistler, Calgary, Los Angeles, Austin, Montréal, New York City, and Vancouver.
When: Most companies host an off-site at the beginning of the year or quarterly. The reason for this timing is because companies are establishing goals, planning new initiatives, and tackling business development problems during this time to promote vision alignment and to set OKRs. Hosting an offsite during this time allows teams to be clear on the desired result or be able to better approach the upcoming tasks in a more effective manner.
How: Lastly, planning an off-site for your department or your company can seem overwhelming at first. However, through taking the appropriate steps, this planning process can be streamlined.
First and foremost, define the purpose of the offsite. Generally it’s to resolve problems through creative solutions and set up each team for success. However, it’s up to you what the goal of this offsite is.
From there, it’s about figuring out the logistics: guest list, location, budget, accommodation, spending on location, preparing material (hand outs, presentations, agenda) and so on. Similar to planning other corporate events, it’s crucial that while finalizing the logistics one by one, the mission of the offsite remains top of mind.
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Overall the benefits of hosting a company offsite is truly unmatched. And once you get into the rhythm of planning them annually, you’ll be a pro!
