How To Plan a Team Building Retreat, Step by Step

If you’re a regular reader of our blog, you know we deeply believe in the importance of team building. There are decades of academic and industry research to support the overwhelming benefits of the practice, but the last few years of work-from-home and hybrid employment models have raised new questions about best practices.

A Harvard Business Review Analytic Services Pulse Survey proves the enduring advantage of face-to-face gatherings, with 79% of respondents stating that “in-person team building, brainstorming, hiring, and onboarding work better than remote alternatives.” So let’s jump right into how to plan a team building retreat that brings your group together to achieve the ultimate success:

Make It Meaningful

Rather than approaching this as “we should host a retreat,” you should identify clearly-stated, measurable organizational goals that can be achieved through a team building retreat. These goals can include one or more of the following:

1. Team Bonds & Synergy: Effective communication and collaboration as well as strengthened interpersonal relationships, conflict resolution and empathy.
2. Performance & Innovation: Clarity around team objectives plus activating abilities and sparking new ideas as well as ways to streamline processes and workflows.
3. Culture & Engagement: Building team morale, driving home core values, increasing employee connection and retention and celebrating achievements.
4. Personal & Professional Growth: Turning developmental areas into strengths, teaching leadership skills and encouraging individuals’ progress.

Consider Everyone On The Team

The most highly functioning and successful teams come from diverse backgrounds and demographics, as well as bringing differing interests, points of view and even energy levels. When planning a team building retreat, you’ll want to choose experiences that are inclusive of every attendee. For example, a ropes challenge course is highly inappropriate for team members who require ADA accessibility.

Maximize Your Budget

Put your dollars into efforts that move the needle in terms of the goals you identified in the first step. When viewed through that lens, air travel to far-flung destinations is, clearly, wasteful. Boasting a convenient location within driving distance for the majority of the Eastern Seaboard — and an easy flight for the rest of the country — Lansdowne Resort is a coveted 500-acre destination nestled into the picturesque Potomac River Valley. As a single-source supplier, our signature meeting packages also bundle your group experiences with event venues, overnight accommodations, mindful dining and other necessities to stretch your budget even further.

Win The Where & When

Another consideration when researching team building retreat locations includes the host venue’s expertise. Lansdowne Resort is a proven leader in facilitating team building experiences that inspire attendees, from outdoor offerings such as Glow Golf and Boat Float that are ideal for the warmer months to Paint & Pinot and Chili Cook Off that can be enjoyed indoors, all year-round.

Engage, Engage, Engage

Curated under five distinctive collections — Creative Collaborations, Working Towards Wellness, Culinary Competitions, Philanthropic Projects and Group Games — our professionally-guided experiences are designed to capture the interest and imagination of any group. Our group sales team can work with you in customizing these offerings to support your specific organizational objectives as well.

Bring The Balance

In support of one of our core values, Lansdowne Resort is designed to offer productivity and relaxation in equal measure to support true work-life balance. Similarly, we encourage groups who gather here to seek an equitable split between retreat team building activities and restorative downtime that gives attendees the space needed to reflect on the experiences of the day.

Keep Up The Momentum

To give your team building retreat meaning in the long-run, there should be a continuum of responsibilities and tasks once attendees return to their day-to-day routine. This can involve implementing action plans, devising new targeted strategies or developing committees to keep all that positive progress sparking.

Learn & Grow

We always advise our clients to seek feedback from their group to uncover which efforts were well received and which could use improvement, so planners can continually optimize their team building efforts moving forward.

Ready to take the next step? Submit an RFP today. In a timely manner, our group sales specialists will respond with detailed recommendations to ensure your next team building retreat is an undeniable success.