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Getting Away From It All
Now more than ever, companies find that the best way to refocus is to retreat
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Business New Haven
10/29/2001
By: Sheila A. LaSella
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It may seem like a paradox, or at least some sort of Zen koan, that in order to advance one must sometimes retreat. Still, time taken away from a stressful daily routine can rejuvenate the mind, the senses and one's creativity.
This ancient contemplative practice has moved into the modern secular realm and offered businesses an opportunity to gather in a distraction-free environment and focus on ways to move forward and improve the bottom line.
Along with the conventional reasons for holding a business retreat, some companies and organizations may find that in the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11, a retreat may be helpful to navigate the unknown waters of these tumultuous times.
A reprieve from stale weekly meetings, a business retreat conducted off-site can breathe fresh air into stagnant strategies and heal the current stresses related to September 11. But don't expect a simple move away from the vapid conference room to solve your business's economic and strategic woes. Proper planning, a focused facilitator and post-retreat implementation are also required if you want your day away from the office to be worth more than the moldy coffee cup you left behind on your desk.
From salmon and halibut fishing charters to whitewater rafting, there is no dearth of locations to hold a retreat these days. But can you realistically accomplish company goals while hooking a wriggling worm or swirling down the torrent rapids? If so, you're probably a successful entrepreneur or a Survivor survivor, but if you're like most typical worker bees a peaceful wooded abode or serene seaside setting may be more conducive to quiet corporate contemplation.
Thankfully, there is an abundance of quiet retreat spaces for businesses to ponder the past and envision their future amidst Connecticut's rich landscape.
Not far from New Haven is the Mercy Center, a $1.3 million not-for-profit business, located in Madison on a private 40-acre campus with woodlands and 1,100 feet of beachfront. The center houses seven conference rooms including a 250-seat auditorium and a lecture hall that accommodates 100.
If your group desires seclusion within the retreat center there is SeaScape, a self-contained executive conference and retreat center for up to 20. This contemporary space is available for the exclusive use of one group and features two large conference rooms, breakout areas and views of the sea.
Says Sr. Eugenie Guterch, executive director of the Mercy Center: “Businesses are looking for comfortable, attractive surroundings and a distraction-free atmosphere. They want to get away. People tell us that as soon as they drive through our gate they feel a difference.”
Spacious, tranquil settings are not only free from the cacophony of ringing telephones and whirring office machines, but they often spark the dormant creative process stifled by the speedy workday. “Groups are very creative during their retreats,” Guterch notes. “Sometimes they take papers and magic markers outside and I've even seen easels by waterside.”
The cost for a day retreat ranges from $25 to $35 per person and overnight stays with three meals are $75 to $100.
The biggest challenge for the Mercy Center is “trying to be who we say we are,” says Guterch. The center can host numerous groups, all with different needs, at one time. Its clients include Southern Connecticut State University, Griffin Hospital and various state departments, to name a few.
“It has to work mutually where we can offer hospitality that people are able to receive and where they are able to accomplish their goals,” says Guterch.
To look at the challenges of going forward and devise a plan to keep the company efficient in future, the Regional Water Authority (RWA) decided that with a new CEO (David Silverstone) on board, the time was ripe for a retreat.
“One thing that was effective was that there was no hustle and bustle. We weren't in a hotel where there is constant activity. We needed a place where we could put aside the work that we were all leaving on our desks and really concentrate on the future,” explains Patricia B. Sweet, vice president of customer and external relations for the RWA.
The senior management looked at long-term challenges such as how to keep costs low, sensitivities to the rates and how to operate more effectively.
Two main factors contributed to what Sweet characterizes as a successful day. “We had the right consultant and we had the right information,” she says. “We had done our homework before we got there, and we knew the questions we wanted to address. We also had the right financials and had been studying some issues for a year and a half.”
Adds Sweet, “We weren't off on a vague quest - the future is upon us what do we do - we knew exactly what areas we wanted to look at. We were very focused.”
Even with the best of intentions and careful planning the ideas hatched in a retreat environment can often lose their power when the group returns to their normal routine. How can a business ensure that this doesn't happen?
“After the retreat we had a number of meetings with our divisions to keep them focused,” Sweet says. “We looked at what we wanted to achieve and knew that we needed to track ourselves and hold ourselves accountable. That worked very well.”
The Connecticut chapter of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) will employ the retreat format for a “Day of Reflection for Professional Caregivers” designed to deal with the terrorist attacks of September 11.
Peter Lynch, clinical director of ALSO-Cornerstone in New Haven, which provides housing for people who are chronically and/or mentally ill, organized the retreat.
The purpose of the event is to discuss the challenges social workers face following the events of September 11 and plan for a future that still appears uncertain. They will ask such questions as: How can we find our own voice? Do we have a role at this time?
Explains Lynch: “September 11 is outside the bounds of anything I have ever seen. Nothing that I've ever been involved in has captivated people's attention and made people think of their own mortality and roused their energy and fears.
“I was aware of the need that we all have to come together and react as a community does,” Lynch adds. “For some people it's prayer, for some it's to have a cup of coffee or get together with their family. This is our way of coming together as a community of healers.”
Reports of depression, inability to focus and concentrate, and a general sense of numbness are plaguing people at all levels throughout workplaces. Lynch believes that the effects of last month's events definitely impact the quality of business services. Therefore holding a retreat at this time “makes good business sense.”
Timing is a factor, since delaying acknowledgment of one's physical and emotional state will only worsen over time. “Traumatic response is debilitating [but] treatment is effective if done right away,” notes Lynch.
One question many employers and employees are asking right now is, How can we get back to our normal work routine and move beyond this tragedy?
Says Lynch: “We need to lick our wounds, but we can't stay in a wounded place because we have work to do. From a professional-helper point of view, how can we get back to work? One way to do this is to pause. In some places I've been over past few weeks people suggest pausing for a minute of silence. I thought, 'I need more than a minute,' so we thought, 'What would it be like if we took a day?'
This method of pausing is a proactive way to deal with current stresses and may be especially effective if tragedies such as September 11 become routine.
“How does a business handle it?” asks Lynch. “People may need to go home and take their kids out of school. How do you process that? How do you facilitate that? Companies have employee-assistance programs - [but] what do they mean? In what ways can human-resources people be sensitized to the fact that some employees may not react immediately and intensely. Some people may have had preexisting traumatic loss and may not be able to return to work right away.
“I would advocate [for] opportunities to talk about this formally,” Lynch adds. “If you don't do it formally it will keep happening informally and nothing gets done with that. Six months from now people may be saying, 'Morale is bad; we need a proactive way to deal with this.' Retreat may seem to go backward, but I'm a firm believer in these opportunities as a way of planning.”
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