Thinking about holding a Board Retreat? I don’t really think we retreat at these events, as we plan for the future? We should call it a Board Advance. But I’ll stick to the old name, for familiarity’s sake.
What constitutes a successful Retreat? From being involved with over 100 Retreats, here is what board members tell me are their criteria for success.
• We accomplished something significant-not just talk, but act.
• We had a good time-we get to know each other better-we laugh a lot.
• We come away more committed to the agency than when we went in.
Can you measure your Retreats against these benchmarks? Do you hear these comments?
I have a few suggestions to energize those Retreats.
1. Provide lot’s of opportunity for interaction. Make sure any long presentations are interspersed with highly interactive activity. Some I have found helpful are:
• Always leave enough time at the beginning for people to introduce themselves and say something about themselves and their lives. I ask such questions as, “What’s something nobody in this group knows about you?” “Who do you consider your mentor or the most influential person in your life?” “What gifts do you bring to the Board?” Don’t rush the process. This is why Retreat’s are different from board meetings. They provide important opportunity for bonding that is so critical so that the board works as a team.
• Always ‘break bread’ together. Timing the Retreat to include lunch is a great idea. Continental breakfasts aren’t as relaxed because people are just arriving and getting settled. Lunches provide more casual time.
• Schedule time when small group discussions can take place, i.e., writing the Mission or Value Statement, setting priorities, analyzing alternatives. These smaller discussions provide an opportunity for everyone to participate, which doesn’t happen in the larger group.
• Always end the Retreat by going around the room and asking everyone to give feedback about the Retreat. This neatly summarizes the Retreat’s impact and usually leaves people feeling they accomplished something, and energized.
2. Leave time at the end of the agenda to take the Retreat’s recommendations and begin their implementation. I try to estimate what the main issues will be and preplan committees or task forces needed to address them. Then I break the group up into these groups, telling the people they don’t have to stay on these committees after the Retreat (they usually do). I tell each group to do three things and report back to the whole group.
a. Write a charge for the committee.
b. Determine who else is needed in the group to fulfill the charge.
c. Set a time for the next meeting.
3. Make sure there is an opportunity to provide some inspiration, by showcasing a client, telling stories of successes, showing a video, etc.
This is the pay that volunteer board members get for giving up a day to devote to the work of the agency. Ask yourself, when they get home, what are they going to tell their partner or spouse about the Retreat? They will probably share the stories they hear from this part of the program.
4. Preplan a debriefing of board leadership as soon as possible after the Retreat to make sure that all commitments are being followed up on. Make sure that those not at the Retreat get notes on what took place.
These are simple suggestions that I find have worked over and over. At a recent Retreat a new Board member said, “I really didn’t want to come because I’ve been part of lots of stodgy Boards. This certainly not a stodgy Board”!
Tags: Board of Directors, non profit, Retreats