Five Key Considerations When Planning An Offsite For A Small Team

If you're running a small team, a corporate offsite can be a great way to build camaraderie and improve team performance. With careful planning and execution, even a short offsite can yield significant benefits for your business. Here are some of the key considerations for running a successful corporate offsite for a small team.

1. Define Your Objectives

Before planning your offsite, it's important to define your objectives. What do you hope to achieve through the offsite? Are you looking to improve communication, foster teamwork, or develop new skills? By clearly defining your objectives, you can ensure that your offsite is focused and effective.

For a small team, objectives that prioritize flexibility are better than long-term or highly structured goals. A major advantage of being on small team is overall adaptability, reaching consensus quickly, and rapidly integrating new information to make quick course adjustments. Objectives that build trust between team members, establish healthy boundaries, and navigate conflict will get more bang for the buck than upskilling, policy-writing, or building five-year plans.

2. Choose the Right Location

The location of your offsite can have a significant impact on its success. While larger companies may have the resources to book a fancy hotel or resort, smaller teams may need to get creative. Consider local conference rooms, community centers, or even a team member's home. The key is to choose a location that is comfortable, functional, and conducive to the objectives of the offsite.

3. Plan Engaging Activities

To keep your team engaged and motivated, it's important to plan activities that are both fun and productive. Consider team-building exercises, workshops led by team members, and brainstorming sessions. You could also plan a group outing or activity that allows your team to bond in a relaxed setting.

Here are some low-cost activities well suited for small teams:

• Volunteer at a local soup kitchen or community service organization

• An escape room

• Mini golf (much less intimidating than actual golf!)

• Paint and Sip

• Brainstorm in a conference room at a coworking space

Look around in your local community for a hidden gem- some of the most memorable experiences can be right in your neighborhood!

4. Keep it Small and Focused

When planning a corporate offsite for a small team, it's important to keep the event small and focused. Too many attendees can lead to a loss of focus and diminished effectiveness. Aim to limit the offsite to no more than 8-10 people to ensure that everyone has a chance to participate and contribute.

What’s unique for small teams is that an offsite of eight people might represent half of the company! It helps to be thoughtful not only of who is being invited, but who isn’t invited and their perspective. Meeting with the non-invited members of your team to explain how and why certain people were invited can help diffuse feelings of exclusion. Here’s some suggestions how to pick and choose who gets to attend.

Additionally, making reasonable arrangements to keep business running as usual is an additional step that small teams may need to make. Putting in clear lines of escalation, distributing day-to-day work equitably, and rewarding non-invitees for temporarily filling in are all ways of mitigating the impact of having people off the line while at an offsite.

5. Follow Up and Measure Results

After the offsite, it's important to follow up and measure the results. Did you achieve your objectives? What did your team members think of the event? By soliciting feedback and analyzing the results, you can fine-tune your approach for future offsites.

If you’d like some guidance on how to organize and plan a corporate offsite, download our free Offsite-In-A-Box eBook and get step-by-step guidance on planning, running, and recapping your offsite, no matter the size of your team.