Reflections on a recent two-day offsite in Laos turns up seven ways to ensure a successful event.

A good friend and I always debate the productiveness of the annual strategic offsite. She has a delightfully derogatory name for them, one which I definitely cannot repeat here.†

Suffice to say, she thinks there’s too much talk and not enough action. And unfortunately I think most of us have experienced a meeting or offsite that went that way.

Having just returned home from facilitating a two-day safety summit in Laos, I was reflecting with the Everyday Massive team on what made it such a successful couple of days.

01 — A clear purpose

Sometimes the purpose of an offsite can feel a little fuzzy. For this one, the brief was very clear: We do not want this to be a talk fest. We want to walk away at the end of the two days with an outcome. And that outcome is a clear way forward for the next year or two, with agreement from everyone who attended.

02 — An agenda that allowed us to go wide and deep

When the agenda was first sent through, it contained about two weeks of content to get through in two days! Most of this was to be delivered as one-way presentations, rather than two-way conversations.

We pulled the agenda right back to four discussion blocks, starting wide and narrowing our focus as we progressed. We made these a mix of both one- and two-way communication.

The feedback following the offsite was it was the first time everyone felt they had the chance to go as deep as they felt the content required.

03 — Gathering the right people

This offsite was intended to deliver a practical strategic plan the whole company would buy into. This meant it needed to be co-created with the entire company in mind.

While it was a safety strategy, we knew having only safety people in the room wouldn’t deliver the real gold. Instead, a cross-section of the company was invited to participate and told it wasn’t a passive, sit-back-and-listen experience, but an opportunity for everyone in attendance to influence the company’s future.

04 — Setting the right environment

When I arrived at the venue, the room was setup in a formal U-shape with flowers in the middle. Not only did this prevent people from seeing each other, but it lent a distinctly funeral parlour-esque vibe. The type of environment where conversations go to die.

The brief was an offsite that delivered outcomes. This meant a setup that optimised connection and facilitated psychological safety in order to get into meaningful conversation quickly. We removed everything and started again with five round tables seating eight people on each.

05 — Killing the icebreakers

With 40 people in the room, we decided introductions were a waste of valuable time. People either knew each other, or wouldn’t remember 40 names. Also, two truths and a lie is best kept at high school sleep-overs.

Instead, ice-breaking involved everyone having a chat at their tables about what their expectations were for the summit, sharing it with the room, then getting to work. The collective sigh of relief at not being forced into bonding activities was resounding.

06 — Staying flexible

While we had certain items on the agenda we wanted to get through, we weren’t strict about order or timing. Rather, we went where the conversation needed to go to get to an outcome.

This meant some things were dropped completely, some were shuffled around, and others we got to and realised we didn’t need to talk about them anymore.

We also didn’t rigidly adhere to break times. If a natural opportunity for a break occurred, we took it. If we needed longer, lunch could wait. Feedback was that it was nice to be treated like actual adults.

07 — Making progress visible

Every decision made about a strategic approach, focus area, initiative, or next step was captured and dropped into a draft strategic plan. We focused on progress rather than perfection, as a first draft is better than leaving with a bunch of promises. At the end of the offsite, we printed the drafts and everyone walked away holding the fruits of two days labour.

It’s such a cliche, but when you love what you do, it doesn’t feel like work. Having the opportunity to guide this summit with a great bunch of people was an absolute honour. My only regret was not lingering a few extra days to eat my way from one end of Laos to the other.

There’s always next time...

† It involves geometry and a short, sharp movements 😬

Have an event coming up? We’d love to help design and/or facilitate the experience.

STRATEGY,<br>SAFETY<br>AND SATAY