Thinking about how to get your team inspired and get a creative boost for your next project? Team retreats are a great way to take your team away from the office and let them out of their routine. Here are four unexpected benefits of bringing your team on a retreat:
1. Happy employees = successful company
By investing in your team’s happiness you invest in your company. In fact, a happy team lead to higher productivity and profits. A study by the University of Michigan stresses out that by implementing positive practices, organizations achieve higher financial performance, productivity employee engagement and customer satisfaction. People like to feel appreciated and know that their work counts. Your employees are part of your success. Taking your team to a retreat is actually a way to focus on themselves as individuals, show that you care about their wellbeing, and build trust – “the ultimate ingredient to teamwork”.
2. Build a strong company culture
Talented people usually want to work for companies that care about them and go the extra mile to keep them. Building a strong company culture helps you retain your best employees, sets you apart from your competitors, and in the long run create a healthy and successful company. For Brandon Dempsey, owner of goBRANDgo!, retreats are at the core of their company culture. He found that “the time spent away from the office often yields a 10x return in productivity and eventual profitability”. Going on a retreat is a way to ensure that your workforce is aligned with your company’s purpose and focus. More importantly, your employees get to understand that everyone in the team plays a crucial role in making the company successful, and that everyone needs to be involved in it.
3. Create stronger bonds
Keeping your employees motivated and happy is one of the main challenges. A retreat is a great way to enable your employees to develop strong relationships with their colleagues outside of the usual workplace. For remote teams, it is even more important to meet in person once in a while. Coby Chapple, product designer at GitHub, emphasizes the importance of face-to-face meetings. Employees need to build empathy and background context for their coworkers. Only then they become much better at working together and helping each other out.
4. Expose hidden talents
A company retreat is an efficient way to discover more about your team. When people are more relaxed, they tend to open up and share their secret talents with others. Some people may even bond when they discover that they share similar interests. Getting away from the workplace and being in a different environment gives your team an opportunity not only to unwind but also to learn more about one another.
In the end coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress and working together is success.
We can host your next company retreat in Switzerland or in Greece. Request a quote.