Facilitation and the Personal Retreat

Undoubtedly you have heard of the business retreat. Made with excitement by the business management, and sometimes attended with dread by key employees.

That’s not to say every retreat is a waste of time. As someone who has gone on many corporate retreats, I typically left them with a renewed sense of purpose. I felt that our firm had new direction, goals, and a clear path forward. My work would be more rewarding and more beneficial.

Some retreats however, are full of failure. I can tell you where the retreat breaks down; it does so due to poor facilitation.

I have seen professional facilitators come in and do a bang-up job. Everyone stays on task, goals are met, and everyone feels that they’ve contributed some value.

Some firms try to save some money and pick some HR or highly motivated technical staff to do the job. The results are often lackluster, if not downright counterproductive.

As it relates to the Personal Retreat, you might think that without a professional facilitator, you might be just wasting your time to go it alone. I wouldn’t necessarily agree, as I truly believe many thoughtful people could put together a plan to find new direction.

The key factors for a personal retreat are:

  • Come to terms with where you are today.
  • Consideration of your past; what makes you what you are today.
  • Inventory of your intangible assets.
  • Exploration of personal values.
  • Development of next steps.

Where a corporate retreat might take 2 or more days, the personal retreat could be done in one easily. Following a process that is well-developed, along with proper attention and focus, can lead to positive outcomes.

It is important to know that just like a corporate retreat, the results are confidential to the entity concerned. I think it’s critical that the process is confidential so that truths and critical introspection can occur without fear of retaliation or judgement.

Facilitators work through a system, and that system can be spelled out for others to use for their own retreats. I have done just this for the Personal Retreat. Please connect through my website for more information and a chance to own this system yourself.

 

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