Off-sites: Not Rocket Science But....

Executive or management teams do this a lot. Rightly so. "Let's have an off-site", so we can take some quality time to review a critical initiative, invest time in team alignment or discussion, or simply work through some major decisions we need to make about the business. And an off-site can be a perfect way to do this because it gives much needed relief for the executive team to get away from the day-to-day and invest in their team focus.

Think about how many times, if you are a non-executive, you have needed to reach an executive during the day. Wished they were in a meeting with you? Badly needed them to reply to an email or approve an invoice? Interrupted or dragged them out of another meeting for a more critical issue. Executives are in the business of spinning plates (as one of my CEO's said) all day long. Where do you think they get the time to truly focus on an Annual Operating Plan, a major strategic acquisition, a new Vision or Partnership, or simply spend much needed time to get aligned together? Not inside your office walls they don't!

The trick about off-sites, is they are a valuable space to do quality work away from the day-to-day, but they often fall flat because executives are so busy with the day-to-day, they can't plan a quality experience. So here are five critical things to consider when planning and managing an executive off-site so it can be as rich, successful and effective as you need it to be.

PLAN AND PLAN SOME MORE

Sound obvi right? But how many times have I seen the following as being completely ineffective ways to start planning an off-site? Here are a few scenarios:

1) We haven't had an off-site in a while, I feel like the team is disconnected so we should have one! What topic will we cover? Dunno - let's just have one. FAIL

-- Fail because every executive has a to-do list that is critical, important and strategic and about as long as both your arms. Any time they spend away from the office needs to be spent in valuable things. If you don't have a goal for the meeting, then they can't articulate it's value. Why do it if the to-do list is more important? There is no greater waste of time and money than your most valuable and expensive personnel congregating together for no apparent reason.

2) We have a really big piece of work that needs our total attention and focus - we are working on our annual operating plan. We can work on it, and work out any differences in an off-site! FAIL

-- Fail because to effectively using an off-site to work through disagreements and big decisions only succeeds if all the work is done ahead of time and the off-site is used for discussion and decisions. It only works if the disagreements are "known knowns" to all of the team and there is a framework of both the information and discussions needed. This type of work is best saved for on-site executive meetings.

3) We have some new executives on the team and really need get to know each other so let's go hang out and do some team building! FAIL

- Fail because while team building is a very critical and useful thing to do, going off-site is too valuable a time to ONLY do team building. There are inevitably so many other strategic and critical items that you should ALSO include in an off-site, even if you do some team building. Deep team building outdoor activities should be saved for true weekends. Team building that surrounds some real work, is time well spent at an off-site.

So how do you build a plan for your executive off-sites. You should start by having a full calendar plan for your executive team to work the operational and strategic seasons of your year (annual planning, brand refresh, product launches, strategic partnership announcements, fiscal announcements) along with the executive development, group development and team dynamics that are important in ensuring alignment to the fundamentals that support this work. Once you have your entire year or more scoped out, then you can identify the when, what and where ...of your off-sites. By this planning you can identify concrete goals and outcomes you want from the off-site and plan accordingly.

And stick to your plan. It is so very tempting for many CEO's or other executives to want to take an already allocated off-site, and focus its' attention on a new or emerging issue. Of-sites are notorious for getting derailed this way with an emergent new topic. You don't have to be so inflexible as to ignore the elephant in the room, if something new needs addressing. But work your original plan, because emergent things are sloppy and don't yield measurable outcomes that are easy to implement and convey. Stick to your plan as much as possible.

EVERY MOVE YOU MAKE

Every move you make as an executive inside the office walls, you are being watched. Today's employees live on media platforms. They watch all the time. Whether their conclusions about you and your body language, facial expressions, smiles or lack thereof, are accurate, by watching you all the time they are trying to know and learn things about the business. They may be trying to emulate you, or catch you in a moment they can get your attention to an issue. So, if you are watched when you are in the office, then realize your absence is also very noticeable. Noteworthy in fact.

Most executive do tell their teams when they go off to an off-site. Some evolved executives tell their teams the goal and purpose of the off-site and even report back. Even more evolved executives ask their teams to help them do the homework needed if it is a working off-site.

The most talked about items employees discuss when an executive team is gone are; where did they go, how nice is it, how much do you think it cost, what do you think they really do at these events, do you think they are drinking the most expensive wine they can find, how does this off-site effect me, what changes when they get back, what decisions are they making.

Yes, your company knows, the organization funds the off-site, the employees often do the homework so, you owe something to your organization before, during and after your off-site. Here are some tips:

- Publish and share the goals of the off-site broadly across the organization. Not simply through your own departments or direct reports. Include it in an All Hands prior to the off-site. Share it on whatever communications platform you use across the company, especially if you are distributed geographically.

- Identify any roles you might be playing during the off-site. For example, if one of you will be the key facilitator to manage a discussion on a company strategy, let the organization know about it. That way, if employees have to implement something upon your return, they understand which executive is the architect of the initiative, and where to get help if their own executive isn't so helpful.

- Send updates and photos during your off-site, especially if it multi-day. Nominate one executive to curate a daily update or share the responsibility. It makes it real for employees to see you working in your "overalls" as a team. Down in the trenches on whiteboards, arguing over the finer points of a decision, being up at the crack of dawn with dark circled eyes, or still working the whiteboard at 10 pm. Show them you are like them - a team. Show them you aren't just having a boondoggle...show them the work and progress against concrete goals.

- Have fun and show it. Being sensitive that some of the locations you attend might always be out of the reach professionally and personally for most of your employees...that said, find a way to share appropriate fun pictures and stories about the off-site either during the time away or when you report back. It is critical for employees to know that you are human. They also need to know that even if you disagree, you mostly get along (or you are really good at faking it). They need to see that as executives you are entitled to fun not because you are entitled, but because you sacrifice personal time and work long hours. Show them both sides of this.

- Report back. Also obvi! But when you get back from an off-site the two biggest mistakes executive teams make are; not sharing an update or reporting back at all, so any progress, decision or action formulated is shared in inconsistent fragments across the organization (which sucks if the rest of the organization is tasked with implementing those inconsistent pieces of direction or decisions). Also don't share an update too late, (so it is no longer relevant or a priority), this is as bad as not sharing an update at all. Even if your reporting back isn't polished, is put together in a rush, and there are still parts to flush out. Share your report back with everyone - EVERYONE. Don't let perfect spoil good and be okay with advertising the fact that the outcomes from your off-site are still a work in progress. Share what you know and what you still don't know as a result of your work.

HIRE AN EXPERT

Speaking from experience, it is often easy to identify in one of your existing team members someone who might be a really great facilitator (HR perhaps). Or even perhaps a subordinate in one of the teams who is excellent at this. Not ideal at all.

Firstly, facilitation is a skill that you must practice often to be great at it. Even good facilitators need to practice often to continue to be good. Also, if you are a facilitator then you are naturally not a participant and the fact is, everyone on the executive team, including your CEO, deserves to be a participant.

Give everyone time to be a participant, to think about the topic at hand and to contribute to the conversation from their role and seat, versus having to manage the entire team.You will have exponential success with your meeting if you hire a professional, neutral facilitator and here is why;

1) They can ensure that everyone participates. Regardless for conflict or consensus, if they see some executives not participating, or not being given the chance to, they will ensure participation. And to maximize honest, frank participation that lands on consensus and commitment - everyone must participate.

2) They have skills! They can keep you on time, they can suggest methods and ways to brainstorm, present, argue, team, get creative - that can help you break down some of the boundaries that might be holding back your ideas or team dynamics. They can make the meeting as structured as the topic requires and know how to herd cats to keep you on task and focus.

3) They can manage conflict. Conflict is healthy. A team of executives that agree about everything all the time are either living in fantasy land or faking it. Openly and with respect, a professional facilitator can help you open up the conflict in a healthy way, air and discuss it and ensure the conflict lands in a productive outcome or with a set of consensus building next steps. Conflict that doesn't get addressed creates toxicity. Conflict that gets opened but not given closure, is like an open wound on a team.

4) They usually help manage to the outcomes. Facilitation can be open ended and fluid, but most facilitation must have structure and outcomes to work. If you want to bring that important element of reporting back to your organization on conclusion, and show action steps taken as a result of the off-site, an expert can also help you craft and design that outcome and communication.

GAG YOUR CEO

Most CEO's (not all) are awesome leaders who like to talk, a lot. Many times this is actually a functionally effective behavior. It is critical, especially in a "forming" or "storming" phase of an executive team's development, that the CEO be very vocal and clear about who they are, where they are taking the company, their ideas, management philosophy. The more you know about your CEO, the more open they are, the more you are likely to understand them and know how to effectively work with them. Off-sites have a very specific purpose however, and it is critical that a CEO doesn't take them over. An off-site gives your team a chance to have a voice. It gives the executives around the table an opportunity to contribute, and a CEO that takes up all the oxygen in the room can inhibit and derail that opportunity. Here is how:

1) CEO's that do all the contribution in an off-site: Miss out on the chance to hear the ideas, analysis, thoughts, feelings and data that their very expensive team of executives could share about important topics and decisions. You hired an expensive brilliant team of fellow executives. Get your value out of them by shutting up and giving them plenty of room to participate, share and comment during an off-site. Otherwise an off-site becomes a very expensive soliloquy and performance of one executive, missing out on important progress, alignment or moments of honesty.

2) CEO's that drive and control the agenda completely: Miss out on the opportunity to see what is important to other members of the executive team. A CEO might learn a lot, if they open up the agenda to contribution from other team members. They might be surprised by the issues others want to address. They might be surprised by the priorities other executives believe are important. Your executive team will bring more meaningful work, contribution and authenticity to the off-site if they are included in the agenda design.

3) CEO's that don't notice body language: Miss out on the opportunity to read the room. There is no greater opportunity to get a slice of authenticity from your executive team, in terms of their energy, non-verbal cues or positioning, than an off-site. Why? Because an executive (especially a good one) knows that in the office they must present leadership and alignment to their department, their people and the organization at large. Any minor conflicts, or dissatisfaction must be disguised from employees for the sake of morale. An off-site presents a unique opportunity for a CEO to observe more authentic behaviors and energies from their team, and get a sense for where they stand intellectually and emotionally. Giving your team space to be themselves, warts and all, gives you as a CEO a powerful advantage to know who is doing okay and who is not, why and what you must do about it.

4) CEO's that take charge: Miss out on the opportunity to develop leaders. It is as simple as that. CEO's often have to take charge in many situations day-to-day in the office or with clients. It's part of the job. There are few opportunities that are risk free or low risk, to give one of your executives a leadership moment. A moment you can task them to lead a topic, a conversation, a high stakes conflict and to be able to support, coach and observe their ability to do so. An off-site presents just such a moment, so it becomes imperative that you step back and let others do the leading.

There are lots of other great aspects to productive off-sites that enable and empower your team, while building the trust and credibility in the executive team from the rest of your organization. The most important being - it must be well planned, well implemented and well communicated. It must be seen as any other high stakes decision or meeting the executive team conducts. It must be given value and important by everyone otherwise it's just your most expensive jolly good waste of time on your entire executive calendar.