15 September 2022

Updated: July 2023

Planning A Team Away Day

By Ellie

A team away day can be one of the most motivating days for your team, but only if it is planned and carried out in the right way. They are becoming increasingly popular within business teams, so what is the best way to carry this out?

Contents:

• What is a Team Away Day?
• What Makes a Good Company Away Day? 
• How Often Should You Hold a Work Away Day? 
• Where Should You Hold a Team Away Day? 
• How Do You Structure a Team Away Day?
• How Do You End a Team Away Day?

What is a Team Away Day? 

Firstly you need to understand that a team away day is more than team-building! Although you’ll typically do a team-building activity, away days also include a meeting or AGM, often formatted as a business first then fun. It is a great way to get across the upcoming business ideas you have, find out the team’s opinion or ideas for the future so you all come up with a clear plan of action and then follow it up with a day of employee engagement activities altogether. 

Team away days offer valuable opportunities for enhancing team dynamics, motivation and productivity. By providing teams with a break from the office, these off-site gatherings deliver a refreshing change that can significantly improve the work environment. Team members can interact through fun activities in a more relaxed setting, fostering better communication, problem solving skills and collaboration. 

What Makes a Good Company Away Day?

Before jumping into planning your team away day you need to consider what will make a good team away day. The thing is this depends on your team dynamic, the individuals in your team and your business. If you want to ensure you get this right, having a suggestion box where employees can contribute team building exercises will allow you to find a happy medium that suits everybody attending.

If your team isn’t made up of thrill seeker individuals then an outdoor team-building event like a zip wire across a lake probably isn’t going to get your team members excited! So make sure you plan suitably so that everybody enjoys the day. If you are struggling to think of unusual team-building activities, we have collated a list of some of the best team away day ideas. 

How Often Should You Hold a Work Away Day?

Technically, this isn’t a measurable answer as it is completely down to you and how often you feel your business needs it! We recommend holding at least 4 a year – one for each quarter. This allows you to still keep the event relevant to your work and be able to get new ideas on board, without feeling like you are constantly repeating yourself.

Where Should You Hold a Team Away Day? 

Location again is variable to your company but we recommend having your meeting and team building day off-site as this will make it more engaging for your employees. You also need to consider if the venue you choose caters to your plans and goals, for example if you plan for smaller team meetings to take place as part of the day before returning to a large group, you need to ensure that your chosen venue can provide multiple rooms.

Accessibility is key, especially if you have multiple offices or international offices. Milton Keynes is an example of an excellent location that is close and easy enough for London-based employees to reach as well as having excellent links to key motorways. 

Make sure you pick somewhere appealing to you and your team because an uninspiring location can have the opposite effect to what is intended for the team’s away day.

How Do You Structure a Team Away Day?

The first thing you should do when you structure a team away day is decide who will be invited to your team away day, is it the whole company, just leadership or are you running a smaller department away day? This will then help you decide on a location and date as these two things will create a foundation for the rest of your plans. 

It is very important that you establish what your goals are for the day early on. This will help to plan the direction of your meeting and an appropriate activity that will help meet your business goals. For example, if one of your quarterly lessons is improved communication and is going to be the main talking point in your meeting then your activity should focus on developing your team’s communication skills. An excellent idea could involve a blindfolded assault course. 

When planning your corporate team away day you also need to ensure you stay on topic and that the time spent is productive. There’s nothing worse for team morale than a long and boring meeting that doesn’t achieve anything. This is why it’s imperative to have a goal for the day to keep everyone focused and to offer regular breaks. When choosing your venue, make sure to ask about break-out areas or mid-meeting snacks that will help with this. This means you’ll have a better chance of increasing interaction from your team and make it easier to achieve your goal.

How Do You End a Team Away Day?

After wrapping up the team away day, it is crucial to engage in a reflective session with the entire team. This can be in the form of a meeting to review the day’s events or casual catch-ups over coffee. Take the time to listen to each team member’s thoughts and feedback on the day and its usefulness. 

This feedback process fosters open communication, strengthens team bonds, and provides valuable insights for future events. Emphasising the importance of hearing everyone’s perspectives ensures a more productive and inclusive approach to team away days in the future.

Lastly, spread the news! Make your team aware of this day, it means they can also make note of anything they would like to bring to the day and can ensure they plan for it correctly. As well as this, it is a great conversation topic whilst in work as you lead up to it, meaning the team is already getting involved and bonding with each other.

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