Corporate Away Days Should Have The Aims Of Strengthening Company Culture and helping people work together. To achieve that, you need both a clear plan for the event and to hire the right facilities to ensure you can make the day a success.
Sometimes corporate away days can have a negative reputation, but if organised properly with the right purpose and held at an appropriate venue, they can be successful in helping your company to improve its culture and get people working together more effectively.
To plan such an event well, you should consider three matters carefully:
· What should you include to make it an effective and worthwhile event?
· What should you exclude because it is pointless or counterproductive?
· What do you need in a venue to ensure it helps you achieve your purposes?
How Much Money Is Wasted On Poorly Planned Corporate Away Days?
It can be easy to get it wrong. A survey carried out last year by Opinium on behalf of brand experience agency The Park found that about half the annual spend of £200 million by UK firms on away days brings no tangible benefits to a company. That is a lot of cash wasted.
There are certainly things you should avoid, as many a tale of bad corporate away days and retreats will testify:
· Cringe-worthy ice-breakers and games
· A feeling of pressure when in the presence of senior colleagues all the time
· ‘Team bonding’ elements that can involve alcohol and may lead to poor behaviour
Such events may prove to be counterproductive. However, an away day can be very effective if it focuses on the right priorities:
· Identify the big questions that your away day needs to answer
· Get the right balance between a structured working day and making personal connections
· Find a schedule that suits everyone
· Choose a venue that creates the right environment
What Venue Facilities Does A Good Corporate Away Day Need?
The last of these is where you need to consider what facilities you need. For example, do you need a large space for a lot of people to be present while a senior member of staff delivers an address? Our auditorium can hold up to 580 people and may be ideal for that.
Equally, the use of state-of-the-art audiovisual equipment can give you the presentational facilities you need, ensuring that you can deliver accurate and clear presentations that provide the facts people need to know and are easy to see and hear.
Equally, you will likely need side rooms that can enable people to split into assigned groups to carry out exercises, be these ice-breakers, brainstorming or simply enabling staff to meet directly with senior management to discuss issues that may otherwise get little attention.
Having lots of space certainly matters, because some people may find such events daunting and being able to circulate widely and not be too close to senior managers may bring a welcome relief for those who may otherwise feel the whole day is too intense.
Some corporate away days are too frivolous, while others are too intense and pressurised. But with the right focus, your event can make the most of the best facilities to produce insights and outcomes that can help your company be more harmonious and productive.
