Team offsites are increasingly becoming recognised as a lever for building stronger teams, especially in remote and hybrid companies. But how can you quickly understand what impact your offsite has on your team and business success? From talking to multiple companies after their away days, here are 5 team behaviours I’ve picked up on that indicate a successful offsite and can be easily tracked by anyone.
“Do you remember at the offsite we discussed…”, “At the offsite it got me thinking about…”
These references act as an indicator that the time spent away provoked useful conversations and learnings that are being built upon back in the whirlwind.
Are people DM’ing each other more? Take regular looks at your Slack or Teams data. Hopefully, your activity level is going up. As friendships formed at offsites start to grow, people naturally start chatting to each other more. Friendship- or lack of it – at work has a major impact on employee retention. A study by Better Up showed that employees who feel socially isolated at work have 32% higher quit rate than those who feel connected.
Do quick headcounts at your after-work drinks and record it (maybe in ANOTHER google sheet if you can bear it). An increase in attendance is a great sign that connections are being formed. The bonds formed at offsites often result in meaningful work friendships that make people hang out more consistently
Do candidates get excited or ask questions about your retreats? If they do, it signals your retreats are attracting talent! Imogen, Head of Marketing at Planes Studio recently told me that any photos they post of their offsites always get the best engagement.
Are people asking when the next offsite is? Do they want to help plan it? This interest shows that they had a great time and are actively engaging. Also a great sign for retention of those employees! Get them involved, many hands make light work!
As well as looking out for these signals it is always important to do a post-event feedback survey. Asking people what they enjoyed, what they are taking away from the offsite and what they hope to see next time.
