How to Plan an Effective Executive Retreat

“All CEOs should lean into executive retreats as a top priority,” says Cabañas. “This is my opportunity to take my already highly functional team of 12 away and make us even better, in terms of the dynamics around how we discuss and make decisions around internal change, business strategy and other issues. Everybody is responsible for arriving prepared and bringing their ‘A’ game, toward discovering
deeper levels of trust, transparency, understanding and, for each individual, deeper self-actualization.”

Another theme is leadership development. “We have a diverse and distributed global workforce of some 10,000 people,” continues Cabañas. “How do you align them with strategy and objectives? It starts with fostering and encouraging individual leaders at the top, who then influence the management layers below them.”

While prioritizing business-driven outcomes, however, he is all for balance. “The retreat is also a celebration of our company, culture and people,” Cabañas says, “so dinners, outdoor activities and exceptional experiences are very much part of the agenda. Leisure pursuits and unstructured time may qualify as ‘inefficient’ when measured against the hard costs associated with taking the team away from the office. Their intangible value more than rewards the investment, however—including translating back to how we create experiences for our corporate customers.”

Case in point: last year’s retreat, which Cabañas organized at a local residential-style enclave complete with gourmet kitchen, library and outdoor fire pit. “There was much complaining about overloaded schedules beforehand,” he recalls. “Afterwards, the team called the experience ‘epic and life-changing.’ The bonding we developed over deep dive conversations and social time became a lasting source
of stories—and another example of invaluable intangibles.”

Planning Partners
Paul Van Deventer, CEO of Dallas-based Meeting Professionals International (MPI), the world’s largest association for the meetings and events industry, affirms the value of the well-organized retreat. “I have participated in numerous executive and board retreats over the course of my career and found them to be valuable opportunities for leveraging the collective intellect of the leadership team in
strategic planning,” says Van Deventer, who also presently co-chairs the D.C.-based Meetings Mean Business Coalition, a global cross-industry communications and advocacy initiative promoting the power of business meetings. “Face-to-face meetings in general deliver significant ROI for businesses, allowing for instant collaboration, real-time productivity and net income growth,” he says.

Matthew Marcial, MPI’s vice president, education and events, agrees. “When well executed, executive retreats are a great opportunity for the leadership team to spend focused time away from their business conducting strategic planning and prioritize organizational initiatives,” he says.

For the hands-on CEO seeking to maximize ROI from the retreat, “the role of a meeting professional has truly evolved to become a key strategic resource for an organization,” adds Marcial. “While CEOs have a vested interest in the experience and the overall success of the retreat, they should trust their planning teams to take their vision and objectives back and create a successful event from start to finish, freeing their time to focus on the business.”

Foremost in planning is a clear understanding of objectives. “This influences everything from destination and venue selection to the program format,” Marcial continues. “Clear goals should be established to gauge the success of these events. Deliverables need to be defined and measured.”

CEOs should provide the vision—with the retreat planner as a key partner. “In addition to trusting and empowering their meeting planning team, I would advise CEOs to be clear and transparent on their objectives, engaged in the meeting design process, open to new and fresh ideas and to also provide timely feedback when their input is requested,” says Van Deventer.

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