Team Retreats and Processes * When is a retreat useful? * When do you need an outside facilitator? * Facilitator and participant responsibilities * What is your approach to retreats? * Sample team projects About my work Mary Dingee Fillmore, Director Clients Projects	When is a retreat useful? Unless you have had a retreat in the last year, it's probably time to do another one -- even if it's just a day at a local facility. Why? A retreat gives people an opportunity to reflect on what they have achieved, and to recognize the importance of what they are accomplishing. This in turn builds the team's spirit and shows them the strengths they can work with. A retreat removes people from the daily pressures of business and helps them get acquainted in another setting with another agenda. Sometimes they can let go of some of their personae and become more human to each other. A retreat forces people's vision from their desks to the horizon. It takes them from the realm of the urgent to the truly important. A retreat lets people evaluate more honestly than most ever can on the job. By thinking together about what did and didn't work, they form the basis for next steps. A retreat helps people delve into issues that they just won't get to in everyday work together -- interpersonal, political and substantive. It gives them an opportunity to work things out in a less threatening and pressured setting. A retreat refreshes people and motivates them anew. A retreat provides the right setting to think ahead, and a positive structure in which to do it.
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