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

Powerful Leadership Retreats: Strategic Overview

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

Part 2

Part 3

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 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 dive deeper into 
planning a truly impactful retreat?

Catch up on the Planning Your Best-Yet Corporate Retreat "mini panel" to learn from the dual perspectives
of both retreat facilitator and corporate event planner.

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)

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