Get off location, redraw the map, change the landscape.
Please think of the most recent executive retreat or strategy workshop you attended. Now indicate your agreement or disagreement with the following outcome statements:
• It was more than just fun & games, and food & drink; we played hard, we worked hard.
• There was a definite change in mindset; it was not “business as usual” after participants returned to their day jobs.
• Tough business problems, problems that really matter, like how to rethink marketing, how to keep innovation flowing, how to win customers’ hearts by creating and delivering compelling value, were tackled.
• People got on the bus; progress was made towards solving these tough problems, in terms of a significant increase in alignment, allocation of resources, and a commitment to action.
If you are in violent agreement with all the statements, then please accept my sincere congratulations. You are doing a lot right.
However, if you found yourself saying “yes-but,” “not really,” “no way,” then you can benefit immensely by rethinking how you design and implement executive retreats and/or strategy workshops. I can help you, as I have C-suite and middle management executives at Motorola, Sprint, Nasdaq, Citi, Coca-Cola, Navistar, and Bristol-Myers Squibb over the past 20+ years.
A peep into my toolkit:
• For me, retreats and workshops are journeys, not events; they always have a from and to
• The starting point, how the journey is undertaken, and the destination are equally important
• Divergence of opinions is valued; alignment, not agreement is the prize
• Focus and discipline are non-negotiable
• Data trumps gut
Please contact me if you would like me to conduct, shepherd, or facilitate your next executive retreat or strategy workshop.