Planning the perfect team-building retreat may seem difficult. But it is not impossible.

To build an efficient team, you need to plan a great retreat, which includes many details.

In this article, Rent2way experts cover all the steps to planning the best team-building retreat. Read through the article, and you’ll learn some pro tips and mistakes to avoid when planning a retreat.

How to Plan the Best Team Building Retreat: Step-by-Step Guide

Here are 12 detailed steps that need to be followed for an efficient retreat:

1. Establish the Main Goal

First of all, you need to determine the prime goal of your retreat. Establishing a goal makes other steps easier. You can then plan by keeping the goal in mind. In this way, the overall retreat planning becomes cohesive with the objective.

Your aim might be to resolve a continuous conflict in your company. There might also be distance between team members, which could affect your company’s service or product quality. If you want to break the distance and improve communication, then an interactive outdoor retreat is ideal.

There can be multiple goals to establish for efficient retreat planning. For example:

• You may want to improve the communication between team members.
• Celebrating an achievement or encouraging the hard work of your team
• Improving collaboration qualities among your team
• There might be a long journey of difficulties, conflicts, and hard work inside your company, and you want to refresh the work environment positively.
• Motivate the team members and speed up the work process.
• There might be a seminar or work training inside the retreat plan.

The points mentioned above are common goals shared among company owners planning a retreat. There can be any objective of your choice. A simple refreshment also counts.

2. Set a Team for Retreat Planning

Now, this step depends a lot on your company profile and team size. If you have a large team, planning alone seems overwhelming. Everyone has different choices and opinions, and memorizing each as a single person is an intimidating task. There is a high chance of mismanagement.

You can compose a mail, asking for help in building a retreat planning team. If anyone is interested, you’ll be glad to receive a hand. You can also ask them directly if you have good team communication skills.

Set a meeting time and discuss the important topics. Distribute the responsibility among them.

Each team may survey and directly ask the company staff for their preferences and opinions. This is more crucial in the case of catering and activity. As a manager, you want every member to have a pleasant time. Choosing a location, food item, or activity that some of the members despise is not going to work.

Even for small companies or team members, setting up a committee for team planning can make things manageable. It helps in:

• Keeping the events running smoothly
• Customizing a retreat activity that no one has issues with
• Avoiding depending on only one person for everything. In case the person responsible has any sudden emergency, the event won’t stop.

3. Determine Retreat Length and Type

You have already set up a team. Now the third step is determining the retreat type and timeline, whether it is an outdoor, fun activity, a virtual interactive session, or a combination of both (hybrid).

If your company is based offline and all of the team members work from the same place, it is better to plan a retreat fully in person. In contrast, if all of your team members are working from different areas, a virtual retreat is ideal.

Lastly, the hybrid type consists of members both working offline and remotely. This type needs a retreat in which online team members can participate accordingly.

Now, determining the retreat time length depends mostly on budget and members. The duration of retreat usually ranges from 2 to 5 days. Occasionally, it may last up to several weeks. You need to ask the team members which duration is more appropriate, as they have their own lives and responsibilities, too.

4. Set the Budget

This is the most crucial one because every other step depends on efficient budgeting. Here is how you can set an appropriate budget for a team-building retreat:

Accommodation:

Choosing the hotel where everyone feels comfortable and not far from the retreat location. If your retreat is relaxation-based, then a resort is more appropriate for giving that vibe.

Transportation:

It includes all the transportation fees from the company to the destination venue. It can be a flight, train, or bus fare. Another local transportation cost is from the airport or station to the hotel and vice versa.

If the members are going separately to the destination, then plan an average transportation fee per person. If the retreat is occurring in a local area, it is better to opt for company transportation.

Food and beverage:

Contacting catering services either locally or in the retreat area is helpful. First, you need to gather data from your retreat team for food and check if anyone has an allergy or intolerance to any substance. Also, check for vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free options.

Budget for both heavy meals and snacks and drinks during break time. Whether it will be buffet, dine-in, or a box system like takeout.

Retreat activity:

Each type of activity requires different budgeting. If it is an outdoor activity like zip-lining, skiing, hiking or kayaking, the budget can be free to a small amount.’

On the other hand, team-building activities like scavenger hunts, escape rooms, and other types require a fee. Relaxation and leisure activities like spa, yoga, or meditation require different budgets.

Other cost:

You have to consider the cost of other miscellaneous items while budgeting, such as t-shirts, souvenirs, gift bags (personalized), etc.

5. Choose the Location

The retreat location should be accessible to every member. You need to take into account other people’s choices and opinions while choosing the location.

If your team member agrees, a location with a scenic view is ideal. Some popular retreat locations in Asia include the Hawaii Islands, Bali, the Maldives, Indonesia, Nepal, and many more. Asia has humid weather, so you need to consider it too.

For adventure retreat locations, you can choose between Aspen in Colorado, Lake Tahoe in California, and mountains in the USA or Canada.

There are historical places too, which is more appropriate for aged team members. Italy, Scotland, and Japan are the most popular countries with rich cultural heritage.

Here are some tips for choosing a retreat location:

• Take help from your team in retreat planning. Analyze the data from the survey and list down suitable locations.
• Take weather and peak season into consideration. Peak-season tourist places are often crowded and charge more. This will negatively impact your retreat plan.
• Choose the location with the most convenient features, such as transportation cost, availability of transportation, and proximity to the airport or train/bus.
• Narrow down the list, and finally, select the one that goes well under your budget.

6. Identify the Ideal Timing

Planning a retreat at a time when everyone is free may be a bit tough. However, it is ideal to take into consideration that all team members should be available in the retreat, or at least most of them.

Holidays, such as Christmas, are not an ideal time for a retreat. Because everyone plans on spending time with their loved ones on holidays.

To choose the best timing for your retreat, you can follow these:

• Consider the work pressure in the company. It is better to plan a retreat after a hard work experience, as this will boost the employees.
• The weather should be pleasing. Any harsh weather makes the retreat more difficult to continue.
• The employee should be available. Any personal planning or occasion should be considered.
• Lastly, the off-peak timing is best for planning under budget. The cost of hotels and catering rises high in peak season.

7. Plan the Activities

Now that you’ve planned the budget and chosen the location, it is time for activity planning. You need to balance relaxation, productivity, and team-building collaboration in mind while planning the activity.

If the goal is to improve the communication among the group members, incorporate team-building activities, such as an escape room, scavenger hunt, different role-playing games, cooking classes, murder mystery, or something simple like a trivia game.

For productive sessions, you can include various leadership training, invite an industry expert speaker, or any skill-based training that suits your company profile. Any innovative challenge game or hackathon works great, too.

However, it is crucial to balance the activity with relaxation time and free time. If you jam-pack the schedule with activities, there won’t be time for bonding that comes naturally.

For virtual retreat planning, you may not include the adventure category here. But you can include trivia games, online cooking classes, and online game nights for team collaboration. For virtual productivity, you can hire a professional speaker or buy a premium skill course that is available online. There is an option for a brainstorming session, too.

8. Catering, Transportation and Accommodation

Catering:

Take information from your retreat planning team survey. The food should be liked by the employees, as they would be tired after long activity sessions. You can hold a survey prior to hiring a catering service.

Inform the employee if there will be drinks or if they have to carry their own snacks and drinks. Be as clear as possible.

Transportation:

You need to book months or weeks ahead to arrange the transportation facility. Again, let the employee know if small-range transport, such as airport to hotel and vice versa, is covered by the company.

Not everyone may be comfortable with a bus if the journey is 4-5 hours. Take others into consideration and book Uber or rent a car.

Accommodation:

The place where the employees rest and keep all their bags and baggage will remain. So pick a hotel that has safety ensured and is under your budget. The hotel shouldn’t be far away from the activity location.

If your retreat focuses on relaxation and celebrating, or if your budget is high, you can book a boutique hotel or a villa to make the retreat more memorable. However, there should be rooms for everybody to stay.

9. Create an Agenda for an Efficient Retreat

Creating an agenda ensures every team member is informed of what is happening in the event.

To create a simple yet presentable agenda, you need to put bullet points, timing, and the event occurring at that time. There can be more points under the event heading. It keeps the leader and managers on track for the event.

A sample retreat agenda for one day:

XYZ Company Retreat
Date
Location of Retreat

9.00-9.30: journey to the retreat location
10.00: icebreaking activity
11.00: getting to know each other, speech, etc
12.00: snacks break, free time
1.00: productive session/brainstorming
2.30: lunch, other activity
4.00: final thoughts and closing

10. Create an Invitation for All Guests

You can use technology to create an invitation for the guests. It should mention whether the retreat event is mandatory or not. An attendance system works well for accommodation and catering facilities.

The invitation shouldn’t be last minute. At least a week prior to the event, the guest should get the invitation.

11. Incorporate a Facilitator

Hiring an external facilitator can improve the retreat quality. A facilitator helps the employee to break the ice and participate.

Any conflict among the team members can be resolved when an external facilitator is involved. A facilitator gives an unbiased opinion and helps as a guide to continue the event activities.

12. Get Feedback From Attendees

After the retreat, send each employee a detailed invoice and ask for feedback. It is the step that helps the attendees connect and appreciate the event in real life.

Getting feedback means reflecting on the event and sharing the experience and its impact. You may ask the attendees what they did that day, why they did it, and lastly, what the impact of the event was on the current situation and what has improved since the retreat.

Top 10 Ideas for an Awesome Team Building Retreat

An effective team-building retreat depends mostly on the activity. If the activity is fun and everyone participates and enjoys it, it improves team collaboration, understanding, and communication. Here are 10 awesome ideas for a retreat:

1. Hiking
2. Team sculpture making
3. Escape room
4. Scavenger hunt
5. Trivia game
6. Cooking class
7. Biking
8. Kayaking
9. Farm staying event
10. Fishing

Pro Tips For An Efficient Retreat

Now you know the planning guide for a company retreat. However, some pro tips will make the retreat an efficient one!

• Avoid long, boring PowerPoint presentations, ongoing. It will bore the attendees and break the purpose of the retreat. Make the presentation fun, informal, and interactive.
• Hiring an external facilitator is a powerful move. Your employee may not bring up ongoing conflict in front of you. However, a facilitator can give an unbiased solution.
• Creating an agenda helps everyone stay on track. If there is flexibility in the event schedule, the participants will know and suit themselves.
• Avoid jam-packing the schedule with continuous activity. It is tiresome and doesn’t allow the attendees to have any free time.
• Have breakout rooms for groups to discuss.
• Check the tech issues (projector, mic, and sound system) prior to the retreat to avoid glitching.

Mistakes to Avoid in a Team Retreat

• There shouldn’t be endless meetings. It makes the retreat seem like another workday.
• Not defining the aim of the retreat.
• Not resolving the conflicts and putting employees in uncomfortable positions.
• Mismanagement of selecting the food and beverage.
• Late booking the hotels and transportation

Wrapping Up

As you have learned by now, planning a retreat requires patience and cooperation from employees.

It is not an impossible task. However, if you follow the steps and keep the retreat fun and engaging, it will surely be a hit!