377: How to Lead an Offsite, with Tom Henschel

Tom Henschel: The Look & Sound of Leadership

Executive coach Tom Henschel of Essential Communications grooms senior leaders and executive teams. An internationally recognized expert in the field of workplace communications and self-presentation, he has helped thousands of leaders achieve excellence through his work as an executive coach and his top-rated podcast, The Look & Sound of Leadership.

Key Points

• An offsite doesn’t have to actually be offsite, but it needs to be treated like it is.
• What do you want the team to know that they don’t know now? Or what do you want them to be able to do that they can’t do now?
• An offsite is a great way to just talk and have experiences together that you don’t normally have time for.
• Really skilled facilitation is an art, not a science.
• Think about the why before the what.
• A good offsite is the start of a process, not the end of a process.
• If the offsite is really productive, it creates more work.
• Leaders should adopt the language of the offsite and use it repeatedly so people don’t forget.

Bonus Audio

• How to balance fun versus professional in an offsite

Resources Mentioned

• Fieldbook of Team Interventions: Step-by-Step Guide to High Performance Teams* by Harry Eggleton and Judy Rice
• Liberating Structures
• Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Field Guide for Leaders, Managers, and Facilitators* by Patrick Lencioni
• The Thiagi Group
• Leading Offsites episode from The Look & Sound of Leadership

Related Episodes

• The Four Unique Types of Teams, with Susan Gerke (episode 138)
• How to Create Team Guidelines, with Susan Gerke (episode 192)
• How to Lead Through Uncertainty and Change, with Jacqueline Farrington (episode 224)

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