Planning a productive retreat.

How to create a special environment that ensures meaningful interaction and discussion.

What value is there in leadership retreats? Plenty. Just consider the following examples:

* An executive committee, deliberating on strategic planning issues, identifies "who we are" in terms of the membership. By focusing on challenges and opportunities represented by certain segments of the membership, the committee creates meaningful goals and objectives for its association.

* Encouraged by the informal setting of a retreat, a small group of the board finally brings out into the open its concerns about how the association's executive director manages staff. Through group discussion, the executive director gets an opportunity to clarify his management style. It becomes readily apparent that the issue, which has been smoldering for some time, is more political than substantive. Within an hour, the board resolves the issue once and for all.

Leadership retreats for an executive committee or board of directors can provide substantial return on investment for an association. Here's how to plan a productive retreat.

Create a special environment. For your leadership to have the most productive retreat possible, you need to create a special environment, one that is unique and isolated. Resorts, historic inns, and other places around the country serve as a useful environment in which the atmosphere can be somewhat casual, yet highly productive.

Participants need to feel relaxed and comfortable. The informal environment lets them be themselves and interact in a more natural way. Recreational activities afford another way for participants to get to know each other better.

Build in structure. At the same time, even though a resort-type environment provides that comfortable, relaxed feeling, there also needs to be some structure and formality. Plan a leadership retreat of relatively short duration - no more than two to three days of half-day formal sessions. This allows substantial time for people to unwind and get to the business at hand and to share the concerns of most importance to them.

An agenda is always helpful, as is a meal that is a little more formal than the other ones - perhaps a dinner at a special place. This will complement the more casual, relaxed breakfasts and lunches designed to provide time for social interaction and encourage further discussion on the substantive issues that have been raised during the formal session(s). Scheduling meetings all day long not only drains participants and makes it difficult for them to interact informally, but it's also a total waste of the unique retreat environment.

Remember, the intent is to create a cohesive group, a working team. You are trying to develop the integrity of the people and the process in the organization. Team and leadership development are best initiated through such a working environment.

Plan the agenda. Key to the structure of the retreat is the agenda, which is a collaborative effort between the chief staff executive and the board or executive committee chair. It generally works best for the chief staff executive to schedule a staff planning retreat within his or her organization of either executive staff, or, if the group is manageable enough, of the entire staff. Staff preparation, discussion, and commitment before the meeting will enhance the productivity of the leadership retreat.

Work together. A critical aspect of an effective retreat is that people get to know one another and learn how to work together. This happens only when a retreat involves all participants.

The chief staff executive and chief elected officer need to deal effectively with existing or emerging cliques. One of the best techniques is for a seasoned leader to meet one-on-one with members of the clique either before the retreat or during a break to stress the importance of openness, collaboration, coordination, and accommodation-objectives that can not be achieved if cliques are allowed to threaten the group's cohesiveness. Diversity of opinion is crucial in every organization,especially among the leadership.

Prepare. Ensure the preparation of background papers and historical documents, including useful reading materials such as articles and books, that participants can read before they attend the retreat. Sometimes it is helpful to make pre-retreat assignments, which do not have to be unduly burdensome. A listing of key issues to ponder or even a preliminary survey may help ensure thought-provoking discussions.

Create positive tension. Productive retreats result from agendas focused on a few critical, long-term issues. "What if" scenarios allow the group to explore and focus its energy in present and future directions of the group.

There is enough diversity of personalities and egos among any leadership group to allow various viewpoints to emerge. Where the leadership of an organization gets together, a tremendous history is represented. Many of the old-timers need to share that history. Many of the newcomers need to let the old-timers know that history is passing and that they are creating a new history for those yet to come. At times, depending on the history and culture of an organization, some volatility among the group may emerge. That's fine. Let it come forward and be dealt with. Remember to focus on what's important, knowing that you must deal with what participants believe are matters of urgent concern.

Allowing ample discussion by all participants enables the group to better focus on the necessary goals, objectives, and action plans that result from a productive leadership retreat.

Provide an external influence. Inviting an external influence to participate in the retreat can do wonders for your group. This person might be an expert in facilitation, a substantive expert, a futurist, or perhaps even a provocateur. Spending resources in this area can enable your group to reach its highest potential. Here's a brief look at how these individuals can enhance the productivity of retreats.

* Facilitator - provides the expertise and wherewithal to being an objective participant during retreat discussions and in preplanning sessions. Allows the chief staff executive as well as the board or executive committee chair to freely participate in the discussion. Having someone skilled in facilitation helps participants focus and achieve their desired outcome.

* Expert - someone well-known by many of the participants who lends additional credibility to facilitating the group. Often a substantive expert' in a particular field may have a particular bias as well as bring great value to a retreat group. Appropriate checking of references will help you select the best expert for your group.

* Futurist - someone who will project years and decades in advance to help retreat participants adopt a futurist perspective to issues confronting their association. Many futurists today are developing special areas of expertise in diverse fields. Groups such as the World Future Society, Bethesda, Maryland; The Healthcare Forum, San Francisco; the American Society of Association Executives, Washington, D.C.; and universities and think tanks around the country, can provide leads on possible futurists to consult with your group.

* Provocateur - a facilitator, expert, or even a futurist who can challenge the group to look at issues in a deeper context or at a different level.

The rewards of a productive retreat are often immeasurable and always long-lasting - both for participants and for their associations. One participant had this to say about his leadership retreat experience: "We reached new heights in terms of where we're going, the kinds of goals and objectives we need, and the leadership direction we need to be headed in."

With careful planning and a spirit of collaboration with your chief staff executive, you, too, will be able to make such a meaningful contribution to your association at your next leadership retreat.

Bill Coughlan, CAE, is president and chief executive officer of the National Association for Medical Equipment Services, Alexandria, Virginia.