Do your next team planning session off-site
Multi-day team planning sessions take a lot of effort to organise and deliver. You’ve got to make sure that everyone is available, no one is taking leave at that time, and figure out what you’ll be doing and talking about for the next few days, as well as where on earth it’s going to take place.
When you’ve got a big office, it’s easy to just get everyone into the boardroom or a large meeting room for a couple of days. However, we’re here to recommend that if possible, go off-site for your team planning – it doesn’t have to be hours away or interstate, it could just be a completely different location in your city.
In 2022, the Creative Natives team headed to The Commons in Surry Hills, Sydney and did a two day team building and planning workshop and it was such a game changer. Why did going off-site for our planning make such a difference? Let us explain.
The change of scenery did wonders
This one is obvious, but it’s so true! In the past, we’ve talked a fair bit about how much we love work from anywhere because the change of scenery invigorates and inspires people and it was the exact same thing here. We felt energised, motivated and excited about what we were doing and we got so much out of those sessions.
We were able to do some serious team bonding
Sometimes you only work with certain members of the team and you talk to them all the time, but you don’t get to chat with others as much. So by going away and spending time in a different setting meant we sat and talked with different people than we usually would. It also meant that some team members who had only met each other virtually got to meet in person which was wonderful.
We could focus on our goals
Being in a completely different location meant we couldn’t just run back to our desks to check our computers. We had distance from our everyday work, which was super helpful. It allowed us to focus on the bigger picture, really nail down what we needed to be focusing and working on and get everyone on the same page.
The team hard at work in Sydney
It was a break in routine
After doing the same thing at the same one-two locations day in and day out, things can get a little monotonous and it’s easy to lose motivation. Injecting a break into your routine can make a total difference. A different location meant everyone’s travel there was completely different, we got to explore this new area when looking for coffee shops and lunch spots and it was nice not to be doing the same usual over and over again. We all definitely had a pep in our step and put that energy into our work.
Looking for some cool places to do an off-site planning session? Check these out (there’s no affiliation, we just did some Googling!):
Melbourne
Sydney
Brisbane
Want to talk to us more about our off-site planning session? Need help finding a new staff member or a new role? Get in touch today – hello@creativenatives.com.au