Over the past two years, I've had the privilege of organizing eight team offsites, for my team and C-level leadership teams I've supported. An offsite is a great way to bring the team together for team bonding, development, planning or brainstorming. Some teams may choose to hold an offsite quarterly, semi-annually or annually. It all depends on the purpose and your team/business needs.

People have often asked me what makes a team offsite effective. Here are ten ingredients I have noticed makes a difference:
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1. Theme: Having a specific theme for the offsite focuses your content and​ audience. It also helps in measuring the impact of the offsite learnings in a specific area. I recommend using a theme around something that is most important for your team at the moment. For instance, if you are building a new team, focus on a theme around the journey ahead. If you have a specific area of development for your team, focus on that.
2. Outcome: As you plan out the offsite, have a specific outcome in mind. In fact, go ahead and write an outcome statement. This should represent what you want everyone leaving the offsite to be able to say that was different than when they walked in. And it should be connected to your theme and content. For example, I gained tools to be more effective in my role or I developed a deeper appreciation for  my colleagues in a meaningful way.
3. Planning: Be intentional about your planning. Start early and make sure each segment is there for a reason. Imagine what the energy in the room would be like at the end of each segment and order the segments in such a way that it works for your audience, theme and outcome. For instance, if you want your team to introspect in the late afternoon, something that brings a somber mode would be helpful. If you want your team to leave the offsite in high spirits, end with a segment that will do just that.
4. Mindfulness: State your intentions with your team. Let them know why the theme was chosen, what the outcome is, why the content was setup a certain way, how they will work together etc. And as you start the day or change gears in segments, have a moment of mindfulness. It doesn't need to be anything grand, just five minutes for everyone to connect with themselves, the segment and be intentional about it.
5. Engagement: Oh, and on how to work together, be explicit about rules of engagement. Trust me, it's needed :) no matter how long you've all worked together. Have just a few or have the group come up with the whole list. Whichever approach you take, make sure the group explicitly agrees to the list you end up with. That's the only way accountability can happen. I usually start with some variant of these three: Be present (and engaged, no devices), be open (to learn, share, and connect), be generous (to yourself and others, ask questions, no right/wrong, get curious).
6. Crowdsourcing: Involve the whole team in planning the offsite. Have people in charge of segments of content, team bonding activities (yes, not all work, have some fun too), meals and logistics. I've found that you can still keep the content fresh and involve everyone. Crowdsourcing your planning makes the team feel they are part of the process. Moreover, you'll get more creativity infused than you'd get on your own. What if you have a large team, how would you keep track you ask? Have a central person be the project manager for the overall planning.
7. Breaks: People are happier when they have breaks. Build in bathroom breaks, time for people to rest their brains or catch up on work, and time to mingle and catch up with each other. I typically break about every 1 hr 30min but no more than 2 hrs. Do what works best for your team. Breaks are really important
8. Variety: Have a variety of content, people learn in different ways. Include some presentation, interactive open session, interactive team work and self reflection work. Variety also means having different types of facilitation/presenters - a good mix of internal, stakeholders and/or external is ideal. It brings different perspectives to your team.
9. Retrospective: Whether you do this at the offsite or shortly after, always, always include a retrospective. Otherwise, how would you know what worked and what didn't? I like to use the scrum retrospective approach and have the team reflect and write up their thoughts on unsigned post-it notes on what went well and what could be improved. We then group those ideas and discuss each one as a group. The goal is to have all voices heard and have something concrete you can hold on to for improvement next time and continue to see it get better. Oh, and don't forget to check-in on that outcome statement ;)
10. Follow-up: OK, this is pretty key. You plan before the offsite, you facilitate during and you followup afterwards. Make sure you capture and share decisions and actions. Following up is important as it sets the stage for forward movement. One of your actions should include thanking people who made it a success - your team, speakers, planners etc.

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Those are my thoughts. What are your favorite ingredients for an effective team offsite?

I recently rewatched Chimamanda Adichie’s TED talk on “The danger of a single story”, and found it to still ring true and relevant. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it.
Here is a brief summary of Adichie's talk: We tell one story of a person or people repeatedly until “that is what they become”. The issue with this is that we “rob people of their dignity” and ignore the several other facets of this person or group of people so that it becomes impossible to think of them as anything else. It’s a clear expression of power used to “dispossess and malign” rather than to “empower and humanize”.

It occurred to me that there are four specific roles we play in a single story - storyteller, lead character, bystander and audience.

At any point, we may occupy one of these roles, whether in a story about ourselves or in a story about others. Each of these roles come with responsibilities that I highlight below. I use a single story about a person to illustrate this, however, these roles and responsibilities also apply to single stories about groups of people.

• ​Storyteller: In this role, we are the crafters and disseminators of the single story. First and foremost, we must discover our why in telling the story. In the deepest corner of our quiet space, ask: What is my real intent of telling this story? The true answer to this question says it all. In this role, we bear the responsibility to discover and share the many stories that represent our lead character. Who is this person? What are they really capable of? What do I know of them? What do I not know of them? How will what I am saying be interpreted? How does it represent who this person truly is?
• Lead character: Here, we are the subject of the story. It may seem to be the least powerful role, but there is power in this role. We can stand tall and speak up. Proactively say what is true about yourself. We bear the responsibility to ask: Who am I? What do I want to say about myself? What do I show about myself? When do I exert the power of silence vs when do I speak out courageously? It's like the popular African proverb says "Until the lion learns to write, tales of hunting will glorify the hunter". We have the responsibility to tell our story. The "how" depends on the context.
• Bystander: In this role, we hear a single story and know of several other stories about the subject. Therefore, we stand at a crossroads - debunk myths and share the many stories we know OR turn the other way, doing nothing OR join in agreement with the single story, helping to reinforce and spread it. We bear the responsibility to share what we already know about this person. We would help educate storytellers and the audience and stand up for the lead character. By the way, in the workplace, this is what sponsors do so well, they speak up for others not in the room. This responsibility is anchored on these questions: What do we truly know about this person? What would we want others to do if in our place? What is the consequence of this single story?
• Audience: Finally, we may play the role of the audience. In this role, we likely do not know any stories about the subject, and are hearing this single story. We bear the responsibility to verify and validate the truth about this person, particularly since we may take decisions based on single stories and half truths. We are solely responsible for our decisions - whether tangible or intangible - money, resources, positions, dignity, credibility, brand etc. We should ask: What do I know of the lead character? What else can I find out? What is the intent behind the story? What decision am I taking? What is the impact of it?

Regardless of the role we are in, we have a responsibility to act consciously as it relates to the dignity of ourselves and others! Start by reflecting on what role(s) you play in single stories, what actions (or inactions) you take, and what the impact of those actions are. In your reflection, observe without judgement, then act consciously towards your goal. I'll be rooting for you as I embark on the same journey!