Braintrust Professional Development
Informed Decisions: Leadership Conversations and Q&A

From Informed Decisions: Conversations and Q&A
with Randall Craig and
Ronja Francoeur

Powerful Leadership Retreats: Strategic Overview

About this session: 

Leadership (and team) retreats are a tremendous opportunity to generate alignment and motivate your team, but why are some retreats transformational, yet others yield no significant impact? Especially when they are a huge investment in planning, coordination, and time away from the office.

To talk about this gap is Hall of Fame business speaker Randall Craig, who has led and facilitated countless retreats.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Retreat Planning Resources

Here are some resources to help you plan your best-yet leadership retreat.

CHOOSING A FACILITATOR

What should you be asking a potential executive offsite facilitator?
What would a good answer look like? And what would a right-fit-for-your-organization answer look like?

 RETREAT KICKOFF SCRIPT 

CEO Retreat Opening Remarks Blueprint

Gather your thoughts and give yourself the piece of mind that you will kick off your retreat like a pro with this retreat opening remarks outline.

Download the CEO Retreat Opening Remarks Blueprint and kick off an impactful retreat.

AVOID COMMON MISTAKES

7 Mistakes to Avoid on Your Leadership Retreat

Avoid these common offsite planning mistakes to make sure your retreat investment goes smoothly and has max impact on your organization.

Download the 7 Retreat Mistakes to Avoid at your executive offsite .

Topics Discussed in the above recording (with timestamps)

•  What separates a successful leadership retreat from one that's merely okay? (00:52)

•  What challenges can a leadership retreat solve (and what problems can they not solve)? (01:30)

•  Leadership Retreats: Who should decide on the precise agenda? (03:25)

•  Why do leadership retreats fall flat? (And how to avoid this from happening.) (06:40)

•  Leadership Retreats and Lasting Change: Moving from alignment to implementation and accountability when the retreat is done (12:25)

•  Leadership Retreats and Lasting Change: What's the right number of attendees for change to happen readily? (18:02)

•  Leadership Retreats and Succession Planning: Inviting (less senior) high-performers without creating waves (22:10)

•  Leadership Retreats: Avoiding the TMI (too much information) problem (25:41)

•  Pivoting a retreat agenda when things aren't going according to plan (28:20)

•  Scenario #1: Managing poor attitudes and conflict going into a leadership retreat (00:26)

•  Scenario #2: When the most senior leadership doesn't think they need to change (05:25)

•  Scenario #3: What to do when leadership retreats consistently do not drive change (11:33)

•  Scenario #4: Leadership Retreat Roster: When leaders don't have 100% confidence in team members who are at the retreat (15:19)

•  Best leadership retreat team building activities: Relaxing wine tour vs fun games vs adrenaline-pumping risk taking? (19:00)

•  ESG and your Corporate Brand: How does the environment impact of your leadership retreat factor for a sustainability-first corporate brand? (23:30)

•  Luxury Experience vs Conservative Budget: Does the luxury help the learning, or can you make the same impact with a "cheap and cheerful" (low budget) leadership retreat? (26:10)

•  Leadership Retreats: Addressing the financial optics in tight economic times (00:10)

•  What is the process of planning a successful retreat? (04:14)

•  The impact of a work-from-home and hybrid team on leadership retreat planning (13:15)

•  When employees see a leadership retreat as an inconvenience (18:09)

•  What to do when key employees aren't able to attend a leadership retreat (22:22)

•  Leadership Retreat Planning: Preparing for what could go wrong (25:19)

•  Given the impact of leadership retreats, why aren't they used everywhere? (26:53)

•  How do you get a better ROI from your retreat investment? (28:49)

Ready to ensure your retreat actually drives lasting change? 

Catch up on Making Change Stick: Post-Retreat Momentum and Accountability to explore what happens after the offsite ends. Learn how to turn post-retreat energy into real momentum, clear accountability, and meaningful impact.

Powerful Leadership Retreats

About this episode: 

Leadership (and Team) Retreats are a tremendous opportunity to generate alignment and motivate your team, but why are some retreats transformational, yet others yield no significant impact?   Especially when they are a huge investment in planning, coordination, and time away from the office.

To talk about this gap is Hall of Fame business speaker Randall Craig, who has led and facilitated countless retreats.

Part 1

Topics Discussed (with timestamps)

•  What separates a successful leadership retreat from one that's merely okay?  (00:52)

•  What challenges can a leadership retreat solve (and what problems cannot be solved)? (01:30)

•  Leadership Retreats: Who should decide on the precise agenda? (03:25)

•  Why do leadership retreats fall flat? (And how to avoid this from happening.) (06:40)

•  Leadership Retreats and Lasting Change: Moving from alignment to implementation and accountability when the retreat is done (12:25)

•  Leadership Retreats and Lasting Change: What's the right number of attendees for change to happen readily? (18:02)

•  Leadership Retreats and Succession Planning: Inviting (less senior) high-performers without creating waves (22:10)

•  Leadership Retreats: Avoiding the TMI (too much information) problem (25:41)

•  Pivoting a retreat agenda when things aren't going according to plan (28:20)

Part 2

Topics Discussed (with timestamps)

•  Scenario #1: Managing poor attitudes and conflict going into a leadership retreat (00:26)

•  Scenario #2: Leadership Retreats: When the most senior leadership doesn't think they need to change (05:25)

•  Scenario #3: What to do when leadership retreats consistently does not drive change (11:33)

•  Scenario #4: Leadership Retreat Roster: When leaders don't have 100% confidence in team members who are at the retreat (15:19)

•  Best leadership retreat team building activities: Relaxing wine tour vs fun games vs adrenaline-pumping risk taking? (19:00)

•  ESG and your Corporate Brand: How does the  environment impact of your leadership retreat factor for  a sustainability-first corporate brand?(23:30)

•  Luxury Experience vs Conservative Budget: Does the luxury help the learning, or can you make the same impact with a "cheap and cheerful" (low budget) leadership retreat?  (26:10)

Part 3

Topics Discussed (with timestamps)

•  Leadership Retreats:  Addressing the financial optics in tight economic times (00:10)

•  What is the process of planning a successful retreat? (04:14)

•  The impact of a work-from-home and hybrid team on leadership retreat planning (13:15)

•  When employees see a leadership retreat as an inconvenience (18:09)

•  What to do when key employees aren't able to attend a leadership retreat (22:22)

•  Leadership Retreat Planning: Preparing for what could go wrong (25:19)

•  Given the impact of leadership retreats, why aren't they used everywhere? (26:53)

•  How do you get a better ROI from your retreat investment? (28:49)

Curious about inviting us to be part of an upcoming leadership retreat?
Book a call to learn how we can help.

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