Many companies organize offsite meetings during the first few months of the year. It’s a great way, as well as a great time, for departments to review their strategy and set goals. While these can be done in meetings at the office, many choose to hold these sessions at offsite locations to provide team members with an opportunity to step back mentally and physically from their daily obligations.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from my very first offsite meeting. The prospect of being gathered outside of the office with team and department members actually intimidated me more than anything else. Being taken out of our comfort zone requires us to adapt to a different set of circumstances, while still leveraging the experience for our careers.
Since then, I’ve become a fan of offsite meetings, mostly because of the perspective it brings as a team member, as well as a team as a whole. However, as I’ve learnt over time, there are a few simple principles to go by to make the most out of them:
Be clear about your goals
You may think that an offsite meeting is yet another meeting to attend, except it’s outside of the office. Not quite…Every offsite meeting is a wonderful opportunity to expand your career potential. However, to be best prepared to take advantage of it, you must set some goals for yourself and your team ahead of time.
Define what your goals are before attending the offsite meeting. What are you hoping to get out of this event? Whether it’s getting closer to your team, or acquiring new skills from the training sessions, or meet other members of the department at large, set some clear goals for yourself! This will set your mind up to get those very benefits you’re looking for in the event, and be more focused towards them.
Change your perspective
The point of a meeting outside of the office is to just that…to be outside of the office. Change of scenery, change of perspective! The goal is for you to renew or change your perspective of your work, department/team, and colleagues by taking you into a setting different from the one you’re accustomed to.
Be open to learning as much as you can from this change of scenery and environment. I remember being struck at how easier it was to interact with my colleagues, and how much the training sessions offered a different, more attractive perspective of my work.
This change of perspective is one of the most important benefits of offsite meetings, and allows you to recharge, re-energize and go back to work with a new, fresher and more productive perspective.
Use it as a networking opportunity!
Offsite meetings are incredible opportunities to network with your team and/or department on a more personal level. This is all the more important as being in the office every day, doesn’t necessarily allow for close bonds to develop between colleagues.
Being taken outside of the office context, and often being involved in teamwork exercises reinforces the sense of mission and belonging within the team/department. It also makes you see your teammates, colleagues and management in a more human, personal lens.
Take advantage of this change of scenery and perspective to network in a more intimate way with others. Go beyond the facade of day-to-day tasks to understand who the people you work with are, what drives them, as well as what the larger purpose and mission of your company is.
Want to learn more about getting the most out of your offsite meeting?
How have you gotten the most out of offsite meetings?
To Your Success,
The Corporate Sis.
