Leadership retreats are powerful opportunities for executives to align on goals, strengthen relationships, and think more creatively about the future. But those results don’t happen by accident, they require careful planning. If you’re responsible for designing a retreat and aren’t sure where to start, here are five practical steps to guide you.
Gather Input to Define the Goals
A successful leadership retreat achieves outcomes that matter to the leaders and the organization. Use short interviews or surveys to learn:
- What priorities leaders want to focus on
- How they envision spending their time
- What success would look like
Share a short list of potential topics or activities and have leaders rank them. Then outline 3–5 clear objectives and confirm alignment before moving forward.
Create a Balanced Agenda
Once goals are clear, design an agenda that balances productivity and play:
- Productive time: strategic planning, defining goals, clarifying roles, creating action plans
- Playful time: shared meals, outdoor activities, games, facilitated activities or experiences
- Unstructured time: space for rest, informal connection, or reflection
Including playful activities helps leaders build stronger relationships, manage their energy, and think more creatively about what’s ahead. Productive activities help leaders make real progress toward their shared goals.
In addition, schedule unstructured time blocks that enable leaders to choose how to spend their time and manage their energy.
Select a Location
The retreat location plays an important role in supporting leaders to achieve their goals while also managing their energy. The whole idea of a retreat is to get away from day-to-day distractions in order to focus on important goals and think more creatively. Look for a location that provides both relaxing and practical amenities. Being in nature helps stimulate creative thinking, awe, and perspective, so locations surrounded by nature are an excellent choice for leadership retreats.
Invite the Right People
Ask leaders: Who needs to be in the room to achieve these goals? Prioritize decision-makers and those who will carry execution forward. If broader input is needed, collect it through pre-retreat surveys or interviews so more voices are included without expanding the participant list unnecessarily.
Facilitate with Flexibility
If you are also responsible for facilitating the retreat, be prepared to be flexible. Ultimately, achieving the goals of the retreat is more important than sticking to the agenda. Pay attention to leaders’ energy, and be ready to make changes to the agenda as needed. Flexibility builds trust and ensures real progress, not just a completed schedule.
Need help designing or facilitating your next leadership retreat?
Ziksana has over 10 years of experience creating custom, high-impact retreats that drive alignment, strengthen culture, and help leaders have fun while accomplishing their goals. Contact us to get started!
