I just spent 48 hours with a group of people. They were the people left from two downsized areas who were now combined into one. The retreat was to help people get to know each other and to identify action steps for going forward. I confess this was one of the hardest sessions I have ever facilitated. There were so many issues and subplots but we actually got some things accomplished. This group still has a great deal of work to do but they are off to a fine start.

In the weeks leading up to the session there was some debate if it should even happen in the first place. Budgets are tight etc etc. The manager of the group held firm and told his boss he was going to do it and the boss said OK. The boss even showed up to make some comments. So did the bosses boss. Each spoke and took questions for over one hour. Senior leadership came to talk to the people and help them understand the reasons for the changes and the plan for the future. This was important and I have seen these leaders do this for years. How often does senior leadership talk directly to the troops in your organization? In most places, the answer is not often enough.

It would have been unfortunate had they cancelled. Let’s be clear. We are not talking about a 14 day junket to Las Vegas. This was noon Monday to noon Wednesday at a modest Inn in the foothills of NC. Had they cancelled they would have saved some money. But how much would it have cost them in the coming year as the personality and procedural clashes continued. I can assure you the long term cost would be a lot more than the money they saved.

This retreat is a great example of not participating in the recession. It a prudent business investment and it will pay dividends in the coming months. What are you investing in?

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 19th, 2009 at 4:47 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.