The Last Resort: The Corporate Retreat Meets the Real World
The Last Resort: The Corporate Retreat Meets the Real World
As we dive under the layers of this $100-plus billion dollar a year industry, we are finding that companies are spending on average over $1,000 per employee on corporate training and retreats in the hopes of convincing our cultures we are Southwest Airlines. Yet besides getting out and playing a round of golf, are we getting out there with this information and transforming our workplace significantly come Monday at 8 a.m.? I think not. Here are some of those reality show-like statements I have heard from my executive clients:
“We had more stories to tell that were better saved for after hours-how discussions at happy hour then monumental changes to a more effective running of a meeting.”
“It was more relaxing than anything else...made me forget about what I had to go back to next week!”
“Got some good information. But I know myself. . . those Powerpoints will go in a file I have in the office.”
“The stuff I learned makes sense in theory. But they don’t know what I have to work with everyday!”
As you can see, this is the reality that needs addressing before a single dollar is spent in 2007 on training and development. The more we remain satisfied on selling the semblance of change and transformation in a weekend, the more I believe we sadly confess that we are so disconnected from the potentials of our employees. In effect, what we are admitting is that our employees don’t know any better and if we give them escapism and a “good time” we can rest our laurels on that—for most of the people above won’t ever complain, per se. Perhaps innocuous and break-even plans are good enough for leadership teams. If not, then spark your leadership team to rewrite the reality show script for a corporate retreat to include:
• A needs assessment prior to the retreat that asks employees to name the “Top 10 List of the Unspeakable Issues in Our Company” and design a weekend around that.
• Ask for expert facilitators to take the “good feeling message” and apply it to the most challenging dyads present at your retreat.
• Lose the razzle dazzle of high expenses and laser light shows and go for substance...make the CEO go through all the day’s events and participate as a “participant.” Never get behind a podium.
Lights, camera, real action.
Reprinted with permission by Executive Decision magazine, November/December 2006
The Last Resort The Corporate Retreat Meets the Real World - To learn more about this author, visit Kevin Fleming's Website.
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Imagine this. In the age of reality TV shows and cameras in the most non-discreet areas of everyday life, what if one could see an MTV version of “The Real World” around the dynamics of corporate retreats. What would we see on our plasmas in our living room? What would we hear as the “thoughts behind the thoughts” and the real words spoken about what was spoon-fed to you when you sat inside your “corporate confessional”?
As we dive under the layers of this $100-plus billion dollar a year industry, we are finding that companies are spending on average over $1,000 per employee on corporate training and retreats in the hopes of convincing our cultures we are Southwest Airlines. Yet besides getting out and playing a round of golf, are we getting out there with this information and transforming our workplace significantly come Monday at 8 a.m.? I think not. Here are some of those reality show-like statements I have heard from my executive clients:
“We had more stories to tell that were better saved for after hours-how discussions at happy hour then monumental changes to a more effective running of a meeting.”
“It was more relaxing than anything else...made me forget about what I had to go back to next week!”
“Got some good information. But I know myself. . . those Powerpoints will go in a file I have in the office.”
“The stuff I learned makes sense in theory. But they don’t know what I have to work with everyday!”
As you can see, this is the reality that needs addressing before a single dollar is spent in 2007 on training and development. The more we remain satisfied on selling the semblance of change and transformation in a weekend, the more I believe we sadly confess that we are so disconnected from the potentials of our employees. In effect, what we are admitting is that our employees don’t know any better and if we give them escapism and a “good time” we can rest our laurels on that—for most of the people above won’t ever complain, per se. Perhaps innocuous and break-even plans are good enough for leadership teams. If not, then spark your leadership team to rewrite the reality show script for a corporate retreat to include:
• A needs assessment prior to the retreat that asks employees to name the “Top 10 List of the Unspeakable Issues in Our Company” and design a weekend around that.
• Ask for expert facilitators to take the “good feeling message” and apply it to the most challenging dyads present at your retreat.
• Lose the razzle dazzle of high expenses and laser light shows and go for substance...make the CEO go through all the day’s events and participate as a “participant.” Never get behind a podium.
Lights, camera, real action.
Reprinted with permission by Executive Decision magazine, November/December 2006
The Last Resort The Corporate Retreat Meets the Real World - To learn more about this author, visit Kevin Fleming's Website.
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Jay Kubassek(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek) In five years, Canadian-born entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from selling mufflers at a Midas franchise to revolutionizing Internet marketing with the 2004 launch of CarbonCopyPRO, a online marketing education company, now worth over $20 million with customers in over 160 countries.
As an independent film producer, his upstart film fund Aliquot Films is currently producing a films with Spike Lee and Abel Fererra (starring Ethan Hawke and Dennis Hopper.)
Jay's entrepreneurial spirit is irrepressible. He’s the owner of five companies, a professional speaker and trainer, international real estate developer/investor, extreme sport enthusiast and emerging philanthropist. Jay resides in NYC with his wife Jamie, son Milo and dog Cooper. Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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