Finding time to have those important meetings, carry out key training or discuss important details, without being interrupted can often be difficult in the current climate. Client serving companies, in particular, can find this difficult, and often have trouble applying the thinking and services they do so well for clients to their own business.
An effective solution to this is to get the team out of the office.
Getting yourself and your staff out of the office- even for a short time- has many benefits, and can lead to higher ongoing productivity.
If you are rolling out a new process or training new or existing staff, then holding a session away from the office means you are in a neutral environment, free of distractions where the old roles of the office can be set aside and alternative communication methods can be used.
When faced with a problem/issue in this type of environment a person will respond with a more genuine reaction, whereas in the work setting they are more likely to respond in a more guarded way, or how they think they should respond dependant on their role in the team. By allowing your staff to respond in more natural ways, they (and you) can get more from a session.
Another benefit of being removed from the office is simply that you are less likely to be interrupted. This is often overlooked as an issue, but if a discussion, meeting or training session is continually disrupted by telephone calls, questions, background noise and emails pinging onto laptops, it can affect both the focus of the session and the serious with which it is viewed by participants.
For example, if a strategy meeting is constantly interrupted those taking part lose their thread, see a drop in enthusiasm and energy or take longer to cover a topic- ultimately diminishing the quality of the meeting.
Similarly in a training session if the trainer is interrupted, for those taking part the session and its content is undermined before they have even left the room.
So for improved productivity, retention, enthusiasm and enjoyment, consider taking that board meeting, training session or strategy day away from the workplace. Getting out even for an hour or two can make a big difference in the future.
An effective solution to this is to get the team out of the office.
Getting yourself and your staff out of the office- even for a short time- has many benefits, and can lead to higher ongoing productivity.
If you are rolling out a new process or training new or existing staff, then holding a session away from the office means you are in a neutral environment, free of distractions where the old roles of the office can be set aside and alternative communication methods can be used.
When faced with a problem/issue in this type of environment a person will respond with a more genuine reaction, whereas in the work setting they are more likely to respond in a more guarded way, or how they think they should respond dependant on their role in the team. By allowing your staff to respond in more natural ways, they (and you) can get more from a session.
Another benefit of being removed from the office is simply that you are less likely to be interrupted. This is often overlooked as an issue, but if a discussion, meeting or training session is continually disrupted by telephone calls, questions, background noise and emails pinging onto laptops, it can affect both the focus of the session and the serious with which it is viewed by participants.
For example, if a strategy meeting is constantly interrupted those taking part lose their thread, see a drop in enthusiasm and energy or take longer to cover a topic- ultimately diminishing the quality of the meeting.
Similarly in a training session if the trainer is interrupted, for those taking part the session and its content is undermined before they have even left the room.
So for improved productivity, retention, enthusiasm and enjoyment, consider taking that board meeting, training session or strategy day away from the workplace. Getting out even for an hour or two can make a big difference in the future.
About the Author:
If you think getting out of the office would help then why not book a corporate conference venue, or to improve colleague relations, how about a corporate team building event.
