How to plan an offsite meeting

Offsites are an opportunity to plan for the future, learn from past results and ensure the whole team is aware of the strategic goals for the upcoming period. Successful offsites support strong team dynamics and productivity in the workplace.

In this article, we use the term “offsite” to refer to taking time away from the immediate demands of today’s business to plan for the future. This doesn’t necessarily have to be offsite in terms of location – although this can be beneficial. It depends on the number of people involved, budget and how much time is available for logistical planning.

Offsite meetings are a way to plan for the future. It gives the team a chance to sit together and discuss what can be learned from past actions, how to adapt to current changes, identify gaps that need to be addressed and strengthen team dynamics. The ultimate objective is to improve performance and team communication. 

For leaders specifically, offsites are an opportunity to model the behavior you hope your team will adopt, actively listen to feedback from all levels of the company and create collaborative strategies for the next period.

• Strategy planning for five year company goals
• Preparing a road map for an upcoming high stakes project
• Team building to improve group alignment with team goals

1. Set a date that everybody can make. 

We consider November to be a good time for offsite meetings. It avoids the often busy month of December and means the team can hit the ground running with the strategic plan at the start of the new year.

2. Determine the location and reserve it. Holding the offsite on company premises simplifies logistics but it’s important to be in a space that is separate from people’s usual work environment.

3. Decide whether an external facilitator is needed and book them. [Using an external facilitator allows you and your team to be fully focussed on the content of the offsite and not be distracted with the process or logistics. It can also help provide a sense of safety and neutrality, ensuring that important but uncomfortable topics are surfaced in a constructive way.]

4. Provide your team with the reading material and any tasks that must be completed in advance of the offsite.

The agenda

Discussing past results

As mentioned in key preparations, any material to review – such as revenue or other quantifiable markers – should be shared with participants before the offsite. This gives everyone a chance to come to the meeting with their thoughts and ideas ready. You don’t want to be spending a large portion of the day waiting for people to pore over sheets of last quarter’s numbers.

If you feel anonymous feedback could be a useful data point too, send questionnaires alongside any business results in advance of the meeting.

Guest speaker

Consider inviting someone outside of the direct team to provide their perspective or present a section on upcoming changes in the industry. This could be an internal or external stakeholder, such as your own manager.

Strategic framework

Choosing a strategic framework helps to create a clear path for what to prioritize and de-prioritize as a team. There are various methods available such as SWOT analyses, Porter’s 5-forces and BCG growth-share matrix. 

The ‘what’ and ‘how’

Once the objectives (the ‘what’) have been determined, it’s time to map out how these will be actioned. The structured aspects of the ‘how’ include who is undertaking a task, what the timeframe is and which resources are required. The human elements are questions such as how will team members hold each other accountable and how will conflicts be addressed? 

Final summary

It’s of paramount importance to end the day with everyone on the same page and aware of their next actionable step. 

1. Finalize the tangible next steps.
2. Agree on follow-up mechanisms to review progress.
3. Decide on how the plan is being communicated to the wider organization.

Template for Porter’s 5-forces; one of our strategic framework suggestions

Detailed preparations

• Give your team sufficient time to prepare any work required for the meeting. If there is a presentation aspect, provide a template and clear expectations. This helps keep the meeting streamlined, even out the time each person has to speak, and levels the playing field in avoiding individuals not under- or overpreparing. 

We recommend using tools such as physical posters and whiteboards over PowerPoint. This increases engagement in the room on the day.

• Send a timed agenda to all participants in advance of the offsite.
• Make your role as the leader clear. It’s your job to inspire, motivate and set the tone for the day. Begin the offsite by sharing your expectations for the meeting – even if you have a third party facilitator – and round the day off by clearly setting out the points from the final summary section above.
• The offsite doesn’t end on the day. The success is determined by how well follow-up occurs.

As the first, and largest, official distributor of Insights Discovery in Switzerland, Tree Trunk Partners has spent over a decade helping individuals and teams understand and value their unique styles, and implement strategies for realizing their full potential.