IMPACTFUL RETREATS AND EXPERT FACILITATION

Retreat program design and masterful facilitation for senior leadership teams, YPO/EO forum groups, and project/department groups looking to tackle their most significant challenges and undergo transformational experiences.

ABOUT RETREATS AND FACILITATION

CREATING IMPACT AND CONNECTIONS FOR LEADERS AND THEIR TEAMS

Facilitated Retreats provide a unique opportunity to delve deep into topics and issues that can’t be addressed in the normal course of business. They allow teams and groups to share at a profound level and make more meaningful connections.

RETREAT TOPICS AND PROGRAMS

BUSINESS & STRATEGY

  • Strategic Planning

  • Quarterly Priorities/Objectives

  • Project/Team Launch

  • Talent Strategy

  • Risk Assessment/Mitigation

  • Organizational Design

  • Change Management

  • Process/Systems Design

  • Financial Forecasting/Modeling

LEADERSHIP & TEAMS

  • Project/Team Retrospectives

  • Team Cohesion/Bonding

  • Radical Candor and Feedback

  • System Thinking and Design

  • Extreme Ownership/Accountability

  • Decision-Making Rights

  • Role Design and Mapping

  • Developing Talent

  • Conflict Resolution

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

  • Leadership/Management Skills

  • Communication Skills

  • Time/Calendar Management

  • Personal/Professional Priorities

  • Resilience Development

  • Delegation

  • Managing Direct Reports

  • Whole Life/360 Assessment

  • Legacy Planning

  • Critical/Strategic Thinking

View fullsize Growth happens at the edge of discomfort. It's in those moments when you step out of your comfort zone and into the unknown, that learning truly begins. Whether it's tackling a tough conversation, taking a business risk, or literally climbing a mou
View fullsize Ratholes vs. Rabbit Holes: Know the Difference If you’ve led intense discussions with leadership teams, you know the danger of ratholes and rabbit holes. They sound alike, but they derail progress in very different ways. Ratholes: It’s
View fullsize Big shout out to Tom Conlon for the amazing Clash LP! 🎶 It's the perfect addition to my vinyl collection, and it’s been so much fun connecting with clients and others in my network over a shared love for music—especially vinyl records.
View fullsize It Doesn’t Have to Be Lonely at the Top CEOs often say it’s lonely at the top, but it doesn’t have to be. The truth is, you just need to look in new and different places. It’s lonely because the decisions you make and the pl
View fullsize Want to Build Trust? Ask for Help. Most people think trust is built by offering help, but they’ve got it backward. Here’s the reality: Trust is built by asking for help, not just giving it. Why? Because asking for help is an act of vu
View fullsize If You’re Lonely at the Top as a CEO, It’s Your Fault I get it. Being a CEO is isolating. There are challenges you can't discuss with your leadership team, employees, or even your partner. Friends? They might not fully grasp the weight
View fullsize Strategy is a team sport. To build the best plans, you need the insights and perspectives of your leadership team and others in the business. Here’s why: Diverse perspectives lead to better plans. No one has all the answers—engaging wi
View fullsize Want to Move Fast? Keep Things Light. 🏃‍♂️‍➡️ In business, speed is everything. Just like backpacking, where every item you carry needs to be carefully considered and justified, the same goes for business strategy. Here’s what I mean
View fullsize How Are You Doing as a CEO? If you don’t know, you’re probably not doing as well as you think. Great CEOs always know how they’re performing. Why? Because they’re continuously asking for and receiving critical feedback: Fro
View fullsize Want to Build Psychological Safety? Have your senior team call you out in public. Here’s why: when your people see your senior team openly challenging you, they learn it’s okay to speak truth to power. They know they can call out their
View fullsize Why I Love Solving Hard Puzzles—and Why You Should Too Leadership is often about navigating messy, complex problems that don't have obvious solutions. Here's the reality: Most decisions aren't grand moves but small, incremental changes. Clari
View fullsize Will coach for vinyl. 🎶 Here’s the deal: I’m offering you a 30-minute, 1-on-1 business coaching session. We can dive into whatever challenge you're facing—hiring or firing decisions, resolving conflict on your leadership team, pre
View fullsize Your values are not fixed. Every company has a set of "DNA possibilities." While you can’t be anything you want, you do have a lot of choice. The key? Choose which values to emphasize and which to suppress, depending on the situation
View fullsize One of the keys to success is getting up *really* early. In climbing, you want to hit the mountain before first light. It gives you maximum time to tackle challenges, adjust for obstacles, and avoid bad weather that rolls in by mid-morning. Busines
View fullsize There’s a lot of randomness in business. The trick is figuring out when you're good and when you're just lucky. Not all bad outcomes come from bad decisions, and not all good outcomes stem from good decisions. The real challenge is learning to
View fullsize Dear CEO: It’s Time to Get Out of the Office If you’re focused on internal issues, you’re missing the real action—out in the market. Customers, competitors, and trends are always changing. If you’re not ahead of it, you
View fullsize The reason your leadership team isn't making the best decisions? They're not arguing enough. Too often, leadership teams try to "play nice." Nobody wants to rock the boat. But here’s the problem: when everyone avoids conflict, criti
View fullsize I stopped doing annual planning years ago. It just didn’t work. Instead, we focus on updating our three-year plan every year, adding four new quarters while revising the rest of the plan. Why? Because if you wait until November or December to
View fullsize Even coaches need coaches. It’s impossible to see what you’re doing wrong without external feedback. My golf swing is a perfect example. I work with a swing coach at a high-tech studio, surrounded by cameras and ball flight trackers. W
View fullsize How often do we get the chance to truly disconnect from the world and immerse ourselves in nature? Last year, I had the incredible experience of taking my two sons fly fishing in remote Alaska. It was an adventure unlike any other. Traveling deep

Follow me on Instagram

FACILITATED RETREAT BENEFITS

CLEAR AGENDA THAT FOCUSES ON THE RIGHT ISSUES AND TOPICS

Careful planning creates a powerful agenda focused on the right issues and expert facilitation keeps the discussions on track.

DEEPER AND MORE MEANINGFUL CONNECTIONS

Getting out of the normal workplace allows teams to create new opportunities to share and go deeper with themselves and each other.

CLEAR GOALS AND OBJECTIVES THAT WILL DRIVE SUCCESS

Retreats are unique and valuable opportunities to tackle the big issues that have been holding you back and envision a new future of success.

WANT TO LEARN MORE?
BOOK A FREE CALL TODAY

Want to learn more about Retreat Planning and Facilitation program? Book a call and we can discuss the program in more detail, your situation and needs, and how we can create the future you and your team desire.

RETREAT PLANNING PROCESS

COLLECT INSIGHTS

By collecting insights and feedback from your team/group members, we can assess the topics and activities that garner the most interest, generating buy-in and commitment to the objectives.

SET PROGRAM GOALS

Based on the collected feedback and discussions with management, we create a customized agenda to address the desired outcomes and create an impactful and enjoyable experience for everyone involved.

SELECTION LOCATION

We select a location and secure accommodations and services by considering criteria such as team location, logistics, travel times, accommodations, activities, and environmental factors.

DESIGN PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES

Once we have a location, we can dial in the activities and programming to address the retreat objectives and desired outcomes. Our goals are to create an amazing experience that is also learning-focused and impactful to the participants.

PREPARE AND ENGAGE

Once we have the retreat agenda, location, and activities planned, we can create the proper prep work and pre-meeting activities. This includes gathering data, having members think through topics, and ensuring everyone arrives in the right mindset.

P U B L I S H E D

5 WAYS TO LEVEL UP YOUR TEAM RETREAT AND CREATE MORE IMPACT

Most team retreats are well-intentioned but often fail to deliver. Here's how to ensure you're getting the most out of your investment.

As a strategic leadership coach, I've conducted hundreds of team and leadership retreats for dozens of companies. I love the retreat format as it gets people out of their day-to-day environments, gets them thinking and interacting in new and different ways, and gives them the time and space to go deeper than they normally can. The best retreats are held in inspiring places, taking advantage of local activities and culture to fuel the team with increased motivation, new perspectives, and stimulating adventures.

However, I've often witnessed retreats falling flat. Sometimes, it was because the planning wasn't done properly, other times because the team just couldn't stay on topic and complete their agenda, and occasionally because teams didn't go deep enough to truly resolve their issues.

Here are five key ways to avoid these pitfalls and to increase your likelihood of success and the impact of the time and energy you and your team invest in your next retreat.

WHAT PEOPLE SAY. . .

Stephanie Sarka
Founder/CEO

Working with Bruce was a great investment. He was able to facilitate critical discussions, give us thoughtful guidance, and provide helpful insights into our dynamics as a team. As a seasoned entrepreneur and executive, I know the value an experienced and professional coach can provide. Bruce is one of the best I’ve met.

Marcia Shapiro
President

Working with Bruce has truly exceptional. He provides a clear structure to the coaching process with pre-meeting and post-meeting questionnaires and a structured agenda for our face-to-face meetings. Bruce is able to ask just the right questions to probe beyond the surface and find deeper issues and find root causes.

Gene Hsiao
Director

My team brought Bruce onboard to help improve the way we operated. I've never worked with a coach who can zero in on the problem as well, or as quickly, as Bruce did. Within a few short days he had sized up our unique situation and had questions that got us thinking in new ways and seeing issues from new perspectives.

While you need to compete and win to get to the top, once you're there you need to focus on teamwork, collaboration, and motivating others. If you continue to lean only on the skills that helped you rise to the top, you'll fail to build a strong and high-performing leadership team around you.

RECENT INC.COM ARTICLES . . .