RUN WITH THE Big dogS™ newsletter
Volume 3, issue 22

Are your meetings producing the same old results?  Changing the venue of the meeting can lead to different outcomes...John

Management idea

Meetings held in the company's conference room take on a predictable flow and feeling.  Participants step in and out to take calls or deal with mini-crises, employees feel freer to interrupt, and the implicit focus of all discussions is the short term.

Holding key meetings off site is a prerequisite to getting the meeting's group fully into a state of flow. We had a client that found their strategic planning meetings were getting stale; reiterating the same old issues without reaching closure.  When they switched to a local hotel's meeting room they were able remain focused long enough to fully understand the issues and develop a consensus on a course of action. 

Often, off site meetings are expensive because they are held at fancy hotels or resorts where you pay for pretty lobbies or golf courses that don't add value to the meeting.  A better alternative is an inexpensive hotel or conference center. Some of the best meetings our clients have held have been at facilities operated by a Union or Seminary.