Team Retreats, Pt. 2
Team retreats allow Development teams to step away from the inbox and the calendar to do a deep dive into the how, why and when of the work we do.
Each retreat is held off site, this is important to remain focused. We can’t afford to rent space, and we certainly can’t afford to overnight it in a hotel, so I have asked Board members to use their boardrooms for the day. I’ve never been turned down, and all have offered space cheerfully.
I’ve also hosted retreats in my home, around my dining room table. We’ve taken paintings down and masking-taped paper to my walls. Before last year’s retreat, I asked the team if they prefer a boardroom or my house, and each said my house. They told me they’re more comfortable, and feel like they get more work done, sitting around my dining room table.
We hold the retreat over the summer, which for most arts groups (and other charities), is the quiet time that comes near the end of one fiscal year and season and the beginning of the next.
In the weeks leading up to our retreat, I will ask the team to answer this question: “This retreat will be a success for me if ____________” and to send me their answers individually. Asking the team to answer the question forces them to think about what meaningful contribution they will make to the day’s success. It also helps me create the day’s agenda and prepare the day’s desired outcomes, and goals.
I ensure the team has the department’s revenue goals and expense budget, and the previous year’s data analysis: how much did we raise, and by how many donors and sponsors. Sometimes we refer to this data, sometimes we don’t. Either way, this information is good to have at the ready.
If it’s available, I also ask for the annual plans or calendars from the Marketing department, the team with whom we have worked most closely. It’s helpful to know when their appeals are, so we are not sending our direct mail pieces at the same time. On the other hand, it’s helpful to know their calendar to consider collaborating on a communication piece.
In early retreats, we’ve done SWOT analysis of our charity and our team. In later years, we would do OTSW, and consider external threats and opportunities and how our strengths and weaknesses react to those environmental conditions.
SWOTs served their purpose as icebreakers for new teams and as a way to start a day agreeing on our organization’s landscape. After a year or two, together we know our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. We live them, and we’re pretty self-aware of our environment and its challenges.
With that in mind, we replaced the SWOT with Red, Yellow and Green Light. Looking at the year past, we consider each revenue channel, or fundraising stream: annual, planned and major giving, events, sponsorship and stewardship. What went well and what we agree should continue in the same manner (Green Light), what tasks, projects or actions needed some adjustments (Yellow Light) and goodness, what were we thinking, what do we need to stop doing (name tags at opening night reception, a definite Red Light!). This exercise gave team members the opportunity to offer feedback in a way that was focused on the project and consider alternatives for the year coming up.
We have presented individual annual plans to each other by channel (annual giving plans for the year) and by month (what are we all doing in September?). It’s a lot of ground to cover in a single day. I found by the end of the day, we have run out of time or we’ve run out of steam, so in recent years we added a second day just to consider the calendar. If we don’t quite make it to the 10th, 11th or 12th month of work plans, that’s ok. The heavy lifting has been done by the individual team member because they have considered what worked in the past year and what they hope to accomplish in the year ahead.
We update and adjust our work plans during our weekly team meetings or, WMCI (Wednesday Morning Check In – seriously). WMCI are like most team meetings -a quick roundtable of the week’s plans and what we will need from each other. Individually, I meet with team members on a bi-weekly basis (pre-work from home) or weekly basis (currently) and we take the time to review our work plans and adjust as need be.
