Away days and off-site working sessions can be highly effective means of galvanising an organisation. However,
they are all too often a missed opportunity in terms of driving change. Discussion of difficult or challenging issues requires robust planning and support.
Deciding on a way forward, when there are a range of strongly held views around the table, takes focus. Away Days and off-site working sessions benefit from a neutral outsider to structure
the agenda and manage the dialogue, while you get on with
the business of developing and sharing your ideas and creating
a successful outcome.
Benefits
We work with you to:
- Plan the meeting so that the tough issues are aired from the start
- Identify the really critical issues early to create a more meaningful agenda
- Facilitate the meeting leaving you free to participate actively
- Ensure that tense moments are neither glossed over nor allowed to derail the meeting
- Ask the more demanding questions and ensure that a positive outcome and buy-in is secured
How does it work?
- We plan the session at an initial meeting with the owner of the meeting/ workshop. We identify the crucial issues for inclusion
and an initial definition of the success criteria - We interview the other key participants to identify different perspectives
- We prepare a draft agenda capturing the critical issues and providing a structure for the team's debate
- We facilitate to ensure that you and your team achieve your planned outcomes
- We provide the post-meeting process to follow up and implement agreed initiatives
Your time commitment
We understand that senior management time is at a premium. While we can't remove all the burden of creating a successful management dialogue from you, we minimise the time you need
to spend planning and running this type of event.
Depending on the scale of the event or the complexity of the issues, we would expect a senior management workshop to take anywhere between five and ten working days of our time.