What is a Personal Retreat?

First of all, what is a personal retreat and why are they helpful? What do we know about how are retreats used in organizations?

Organizations are often big, with complicated missions. Different departments work separately, and usually on the same goal.

The mission might be to make the best widgets the world has seen.

Everyone is on board with that at first, but then you have a department like Human Resources who never sees a widget so they get a little alienated from the mission.

Maybe your IT department has some turnover and now they don’t really get the mission.

When the people don’t talk much or you have turnover, that cooperative mission is lost.

Then you have take your leadership on a retreat to get out of the factory, talk about what’s awesome about those widgets and what everyone brings to the table to keep making them more incredible.

Sometimes you might even find that you aren’t as good at widgets as you thought and whizz-bangs are what everyone is really going to blow the world away.

Ok so there’s the benefit for an organization but what about you?

It’s a chance to do the same thing – look back on how you got to where you are and think about what you wanted to be, and if your path is leading to where you want to end up.

What kinds of things can you get from a Personal Retreat?

  • A new career.
  • Explore a personal interest like playing guitar or learning a new language.
  • Pursue a course of study or complete a degree program.
  • Start a health improvement journey.
  • Work on your personal development.
  • Re-establish connections with relatives.
  • Or something completely unique to you.