Avoiding Unrealistic Retreat Enthusiasm: Two Suggestions, by Andrew Willis Garcés

In searching for great tools to help organizations plan their retreats, we stumbled on this wonderful article by Andrew Willis Garcés (writing on puravida.org).

Andrew first dives into the #1 retreat mistake: getting really excited about new projects and new ideas, without any ability to follow through. Garcés reminds us of three questions that should guide any planning during a retreat:

1. If this plan requires new energy, where will that come from?
(Are current people stepping up, new people being brought in, or are old projects being phased out?)
2. If current people are committing to step up their involvement, how will they each manage that?
3. If new people are needed to achieve new goals, how will that happen?

However, Garcés also suggests thinking about retreats as something other than a time to plan. What if we instead used retreat as a time to emotionally process what has gone on in the organization or in the lives of your members, to do resilience training, to build relationships, or to give each other feedback?

To read the article in full, click here. Thanks Andrew!